What is the Apple tablet going to be?
There are rumors, rumors everywhere and not a fact to drink. Is the fabled Apple tablet going to be a large, but no more talented iPod Touch, or will it be something more?
The majority of the rumors about the new tablet seem to revolve around a device just like the Touch, but large enough for users to really watch movies on. In other words, the Apple tablet is going to be nothing more than an entertainment device. One blog at PC World makes a case for this, but it is difficult to see the point in an $800 MP3 and DVD player.
The entertainment-based tablet rumors are built around the new tablet being a 10-inch (diagonal) device rather than the current 4.5-inch or so form factor. The entertainment-only tablet would have a touch-screen keyboard, which may or may not zoom to present larger and smaller versions. Connection to the internet would be via Wi-Fi.
The primary apps built for such a tablet entertainment device would be for the playback of of audio and video, from films to the new and improved Cocktail audio content package. Such a device would not require much, if any, more processor than the current Touch, nor much more than iPhone OS 3.0 as an operating system.
The price for this entertainment device is rumored to be $800.
For any number of reasons, that is simply ridiculous. Who would pay that much money for an iPod, even a video iPod, that was too bulky to easily carry around? I know that I wouldn’t. However, a lot of us would pay that much for an Apple tablet that did those things on the side, when it was not being a fairly powerful, lightweight portable computer.
Say, a computer with a much faster Apple-designed-and-built processor in the 2 GHz range, with an operating system that was more than iPhone 3.0 but a bit less than OSX? An OS that would let the tablet run OSX apps, while taking advantage of all the extra hardware that can be crammed into all that extra space? An OS that could also run all the apps from the App Store. And make use of perhaps 64G of flash memory? And it should have a phone built in, usable with a headset. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what a real tablet computer from Apple should be. Everything you need to carry in one package.
From all reports, there has not yet been time for Apple to develop the processor that is needed for such a tablet, and we have heard nothing about a version of OS X with an iPhone emulator, although that software does exist. Perhaps the timing of the tablet’s release will tell us a lot. If it comes out in September, or in time for Christmas, it will be an $800 iPod, and it will not sell well.
If it comes out mid-next year, it will be a real Apple tablet computer, with all the bells and whistles. Then, they could sell a tablet for $800-1,000 and sell them by the trainload. There is an interim position. They could bring out a mainly entertainment tablet running a slower processor and iPhone OS 3.0 this fall and sell it in the $600-699 price range. Than might work. Then, six months later, they could bring out the Tablet Pro, with all the features ascribed to a real tablet computer in the $800-999 price range. Both of those devices stand a chance of selling. An excellent chance.
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July 28th, 2009
Apple Tablet may be launched this Christmas or possibly as early as September. I hope this will be another great rally for apple earnings. I will buy one of this for sure. The iphone started to be too little to stay all the day looking things. I am a great fan of apple product so started collecting all the information (more than 200 sites) about Apple Tablet(News, Videos, Pics, Pre reviews, Rumors etc.,). If you are interested take a look at the below link
http://markthispage.blogspot.com/2009/07/apple-tablet-large-iphone-or-ipod-touch.html
July 28th, 2009
What is the Apple tablet going to be?
Great question, I’ll answer. It will be staying in the store, I won’t be buying one.
July 29th, 2009
Having a phone built in would cannibalise their sales of the iphone, but why not have a foolproof way of hooking it up with an iphone and use its network access instead? That would offer a potential for two sales. Much more apple’s way of thinking.