Apple tablet headed for Verizon network?
The rumor train continues to fly down the tracks, carrying news of an Apple tablet computer with it, now adding the “news” that such a product could be primed to run on the Verizon wireless network.
There are rumor components from Asia, counting up the parts that Apple is ordering and seeing a tablet in every bin. There are engineers and processor gurus being hired in Cupertino, and a tablet CPU project is said to be in full swing. There are patents being filed that would make an Apple tablet computer the killer hardware device of the next decade.
And now there are rumors that the tablet may wind up being jointly marketed by Apple and Verizon, who would be devising some sort of data-only plan for the device. Now we have a ten-inch screen with a real keyboard in a form factor similar in thickness to an iPod Touch but large enough to fit into the netbook class, if Apple had any desire to be in the netbook class…
The latest rumors, according to a PCWorld story, continue to revolve around a device in the $800 range, available for purchase during the peak of the holiday shopping season. The newest part of these fables of technology is the connection to Verizon, who could help offset the price of the device just like AT&T is doing for the iPhone and Sprint is doing for the Pre. If the wireless carriers didn’t subsidize prices, no one would be able to afford a smartphone.
Someone needs to form these rumors into shape; we are happy to take on the responsibility. First, the form factor of a 10-10.5 inch screen is about right, but beneath that screen would be a semi-dedicated virtual keyboard and trackpad. The rumored Apple CPU would need to be ready for this monster, and it would have to run 1.8 to 2.2 GHz. And it would have to contain a cell phone, just like the iPhone, making the tablet a computer that just happens to have a phone, which is exactly what the iPhone is. Give it 256 GB of virtual drive, an OSX-like operating system, and some new, narrow-edged peripheral connectors, and you have the next wave in personal computing.
Thus, it would be a natural for Verizon, especially if it came with a Bluetooth or corded earpiece with microphone. Why worry about VOIP when you can just slide the whole device into the network for both phone and data? It would blow away the netbooks, and also blow everyone else’s $600 laptops out of the water. That’s right, $599 with subsidies from Verizon. Be on the lookout for it.
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