I think Gruber's got it right.<p>Of course, as a Power User, this leaves me... I dunno, miffed? Annoyed? Agitated?<p>I'm like 90% sure I'm going to want this thing if <i>only</i> for the fact that it's an eBook reader plus other stuff, but I don't see it being able to replace my laptop for programming when I'm away from home. That's not Apple's fault for introducing something that doesn't completely subsume the personal computing experience, but it leaves me somewhat anxious that now I'm going to be carrying around an iPhone and a MacBook AND an MacLet (iSlate, iTablet, TaBook, iWhatwever) when I go on a trip or something.<p>That's just too much gear! I at least hope there's some sort of unified power solution between MacBooks or iPods and this thing.
whenever i read these thread i think about the famous cmdrtaco quote about the original ipod launch:<p>"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
<a href="http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257" rel="nofollow">http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257</a><p>and that was after launch. pre-launch speculation about how it isn't worth buying because of some hypothesized reason are mostly for fun!
Most important part of the article...<p>"But there’s one question at the top of the list, the answer to which is the key to answering every other question. That question is this: If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook; why would you want this?<p>The epigraph I used to start this piece — the bit about Steve Jobs demanding that a tablet be useful for more than just reading on the can — indicates that Apple will release nothing without such an answer. I agree that such an answer is essential."<p>I'm no prophet so I won't even guess whether he (or everyone else for that matter) is right or wrong on what's coming. What I will say is the "Cone of Silence" he refers to is encouraging.<p>As he points out in the article the last time Apple had all the engineers drop off the grid like this was before the iPhone launch. Given that I have to assume Apple thinks they have something big here (on the logic of the cone's impenetrability being proportional to how great Steve J. thinks the product is)
Here's my bit of wild-eyed far-out speculation:<p>A lot of people are speculating that the killer app for the Apple Tablet will be X or that it will be Y. However, the bigger picture involves the following:<p><pre><code> - What major inconvenience does it solve?
- What Possibilites inherent in the form factor?
- How will it fit into the Apple ecosystem?
- How will it fit into the general ecosystem?
</code></pre>
At least 3 out of 4 of these are key questions for <i>any</i> Apple product.<p>Major inconvenience solved:<p>I believe that the Apple Tablet will be a UMPC. It will have enough memory to store all of your personal data (perhaps not including video content). I would be the ultimate solution to all sync problems. In true UMPC fashion, you would be able to conveniently carry your data with you <i>everywhere</i> including on the plane. It will act as a "hub" for such data.<p>Possibilites inherent in the form factor:<p>Everything the iPhone is a little too small for. An agenda can work on the iPhone screen, but it would be <i>much</i> better on a 7" or 10" screen. A 7" or 10" screen is large enough to be a digital "Moleskine" or sketchbook. It is comfortably large enough to be a whole house remote control. It can serve as a richer augmented reality interface than an iPhone. Photo touchup in the field -- better on a larger screen than the iPhone.<p>How will it fit into the Apple ecosystem?<p>Everything will sync to the tablet. The tablet will be primary store of such information. Mobile Me will be the web accessible copy. The iMac will be there for an even richer input/display and have the computing/graphics horsepower for serious work. Laptops will get phased out, in favor of inexpensive, lightweight input/display clamshells. (Bonjour is the key to Apple's future!)<p>How will it fit into the general ecosystem?<p>The UMPC will come into its own. Laptops & netbooks will die off, become the purchase of those who can only afford one piece of kit, or morph into high-end specialist machines.
Maybe it's just me, but I could see many uses for a tablet beyond just reading in the bathroom or in bed. For any job where you're standing/ walking and taking notes (real estate agents, etc), it's awkward to try to open a macbook, and the iphone is too tedious.<p>Pair a tablet with a solid voice to text app, and it'd be pretty useful for lawyers, reporters, etc.
I just want a DRAWING tablet from Apple!!! The smallest Cintiq is a thousand bucks and I have to have a computer attached to it! Give me a drawing tablet that I can also read PDFs on (and wireless on a pricier model) and I'll be all set.<p>Also, I want color. If it isn't color, I'll just buy a kindle.<p>I don't care about keyboard. iPhone style is painful, but I'll endure. Bonus points if it can recognize handwriting.
A table will not replace a computer that is used for a desk job like programming, I think it will be a great multi-purpose device for more casual, every-day activities. Pretty exciting to think about the possibilities. Letting my mind roam for a few seconds, here are some ideas.<p>- Note taking: can it be good enough to work like a pen on paper?
- Clip to a portable dock to use like a laptop/desktop
- Perfect for presentations and meetings where a laptop may be too bulky
- Hang it on the wall and show photos
- Reading recipes in the kitchen
- Maps and GPS (especially with voice input/output)
- No more printing required, the tablet works as a companion to my desktop/laptop
- Video chat
- Browsing, reading, videos
- Access to light-weight web apps, email, docs, etc<p>Developers got incredibly creative with iPhone apps (like the Ocarina app), I'm sure there will be a ton of simple, surprising applications coming out of the ecosystem.
The two best killer apps I've heard of for the iTablet are gaming and magazines. It seems likely to me that this will be the first Apple device with Apple silicon for the CPU, and from what I hear that means it's going to have some serious 3D muscle. The magazine bid is riskier, but has significant payoff. The Kindle isn't going to deliver gorgeous full-color content any time soon, but the iTablet surely will. I predict games and magazines will be the killer apps for the iTablet.
There's a large gulf in battery life between phones and laptops - there are plenty of times where I'd like to browse something on my laptop, but I don't feel like getting the charger from the other room and plugging in. So a device that gets 8-12hrs battery life under use would have a different use profile.<p>There are also apps like instant messengers, skype, email etc. that you'd like to be always-on. The iPhone is a one-app-at-a-time, goes-to-sleep often device that's not well suited to those applications.<p>Slapping in a user-facing camera for video calls would also differentiate it from the iPhone.
No one seems to see the true potential for disruptive change in a tablet -- that you can ditch the mouse and use all 10 fingers (or some subset thereof) to control the UI. This is a much more natural way to interact with things and might increase productivity by an order of magnitude for a large number of tasks.
My guess is Apple will handle the hard part (the interactive book/magazine interface) and allow publishers to just work on publishing their content in a series of well-defined feeds to iTunes.<p>In my mind, the real killer app for the iTablet is rich, collaborative, social catalog shopping. Why can't they make J. Crew catalogs come to life? Where is the interactive Amazon.com catalog? Thinking further in this direction, I believe advertisements on the iTablet may go beyond traditional ads.<p>The most intriguing part of the iTablet is the what-if's<p>What if Apple were able to convince the top 25 textbook publishers that it would be a good thing to have iTablet textbooks, I think that would be a major selling point for college students.<p>What if they finally cracked the problem of voice recognition or handwriting recognition by doing the hard computations in the cloud?<p>What if the on-demand tactile keyboard patent has actually been implemented?<p>Popular Science's mockup done by publisher Bonnier’s R&D group with design firm BERG (hot articles)<p><a href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/our-vision-future-magazines" rel="nofollow">http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/our-vision-...</a><p>Wonderfactory's mockup of an interactive Sports Illustrated magazine on a tablet (linked statistics):<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk</a>
My guess is the tablet will run Touch OS 4 and the 4th generation iPone/Touch will inherit most of the new features as well. A multi-tasking UI, Expose, widgets. All would be welcome additions to the iPhone. You've already got the concept of a Dock so extending it to be a multi-tasking UI seems obvious. The iPhone would benefit from a user home directory that was accessible between all applications. If we have an E-Reader app for books, magazines, catalogs, etc it seems like they would extend this to the iPhone/Touch as well offering content formatted for the smaller screen seamlessly. The only area of difference I can think of would be the need for a windowing system on a 10" display. It probably wouldn't make sense to limit developers only to full-screen applications with a higher resolution display. This might be a clever way to offer iPhone/Touch application compatibility to the tablet. Instead of restricting access to these apps, or automatically scaling them full-screen, why not just run them in a window?
I don't think there's any question, based on rumors and on Apple's (perceived) DNA, that it'll have a high-res (OLED?) 10" screen and some kind of on-screen tactile feedback (see recent rumors & patents).<p>I.e., for Jobs to be extremely pleased with it, it must have at least 2-3 major hardware breakthroughs, outside of any software/content breakthroughs.<p>So plan for the above plus CPU/GPU real power from an Apple-designed ARM+graphics chip, plus some whizzy new (unreplaceable, of course) battery technology.<p>I have to imagine it'll also come with a couple of breakthrough apps like an interactive catalog (see the leaked Ikea mockup) and some kind of virtual-paper-like (or better) interactive magazine/newspaper reader.<p>Jobs wouldn't be happy unless it completely leapfrogged people's expectations.
I don't know whether this is what Apple's doing.<p>But I recommend people keep thinking this way -- if it's not what Apple's doing, then <i>you</i> should go do it ;-)
You know, I could do much of my daily work from my iPhone, if only it let me run multiple, unsigned, applications and use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Add an external monitor port and USB for drives and printers, and I'm happy. The iPhone 3G is already as powerful as a mid 90's desktop.
A tablet isn't more portable than a netbook. It's less functional, doesn't have any protection for the screen, no way to stand up the screen to a good viewing angle, no keyboard.<p>It's a dead duck. Don't know why this is news to anyone.
Tablets will be great for small children, who will interact with educational software using their right forefingers on the touchscreen.<p>Tablets will eventually be cheap, rugged and capable of being turned on quickly. (Perhaps a convergence with electronic paper will occur.) They can be left lying around in the play area. No chair/desk/keyboard arrangement will be required.<p>One upshot of this is that educational software will get much, much better than it is now.
The input method is what stops the iPhone from being a "general computer". The iPhone is read-mostly. Great for web-browsing and games, but while you <i>can</i> write emails/documents on it, it's... sub-optimal. Without a better input method, a tablet is just a bigger iPhone, for which smaller == better.<p>Therefore, this "tablet" either has a keyboard; or something comparable (or better!) - maybe that cool MS idea of seeing your fingers <i>through</i> the device, as you type on the back, and see ghosts on the front; or... it doesn't exist.<p>Steve's problem: Moore's Law means that by next June, the iPhone could be 4 times as powerful. But doing so would alienate the customer base, so current iPhones are only about 10% more powerful. Fine. But this opens a competitive opportunity... which Steve can block with a "show pony" device, that is essentially a 4 x iPhone in power, but doesn't compete directly with the iPhone.
The purpose is to claim the tech + cool leadership, not to make real money.
I think the tablet has plenty of uses, but it's the flaws that hold it back. We actually have a tablet at home and it was very useful on the couch and in various other roles. However there are a couple of features that are a must for such a device that I can't see being able to be provided easily:<p>1. I must be able to drop it from 6ft onto a hard surface and do zero damage<p>2. I must be able to pour a whole cup of coffee on it with zero ill effect<p>3. It must be able to be stolen with a cost to me of less than $50<p>These are the killer problems for me that make it an unsuitable thing for 'casual' use. If I have to treat it with kid gloves, watch it like a hawk whenever I put it down in public, assume a posture of paranoia about food and drink while I'm around it .... then it's just a failure at its main purpose.
I wrote a couple of blog posts on this, but here's the summary:<p>My secret hope is that it has an eInk screen that slides down to reveal an LCD, at which point the eInk acts as a reconfigurable keyboard for netbook-style interaction.<p>I'm also wondering if it might instead have a couple of 7" screens arranged Nintendo DS-style (that would add up to 10"). You could, in a pinch, run unmodified iPhone apps on one screen with a keyboard and/or dock on the lower screen. And it would make a great two-page-at-a-time eBook reader.<p>I also think mobile videoconferencing might be a feature that's given a major push, since MacBooks don't have built-in mobile data connections and iPhones don't have user-facing cameras.
The big question for the tablet is "What niche does this fill?" To be successful, it's going to have a handful of pre-packaged use cases (the iPhone/Touch had web browsing, mail, mp3 player, calling) and share the iPhone's support for apps.<p>The niche question gets answered by 3rd party developers who are sure to come up with more brilliant ideas for use cases than Apple's engineers will on their own. Already in the comments here people have stated the niche they'd like this to fill for them. The draw for a tablet arises from the combination of nice form factor + portability + the apps that nails my niche.<p>Maybe I really should pick up some Cocoa...
Surprisingly, it sounds like some of the guesses aren't too far off from the Microsoft Courier concept. I have to say, some of the ideas in that concept of a persistent, everyday computing device sound compelling. Something half way between an interactive moleskin and a kindle.<p><a href="http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet" rel="nofollow">http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsof...</a><p>I wouldn't be surprised to see apple co-opt some of the interactions of a physical notebook. It would fold up in fit in a small messenger bag pretty easily.
Compared to some of the other frenzied write ups about the coming of the great white tablet, I liked this one. It felt like an honest and intelligent rumination with an undercurrent of anticipation about the device. Good job.
My view: a newspaper reader. Everyone reads the news. No one reads books anymore. Expect a content deal so that I can get major newspapers, in a pleasant format, and read them on my couch when I come home.<p>Plus a web browser, video player. That should be good enough to make a very interesting product.<p>Pointing out issues with the current iPhone software that wouldn't work <i>as is</i> on a larger screen is calling Apple engineers stupid. I don't think they are.
Sorry for the meta-comment but why does this article has so many votes?<p>I read the whole thing and it's nothing more than pure speculation and "analisys." What I took from it is that The Apple Tablet will be a full working device like the many tablets we've seen since the beginning of the decade.<p>Is the author someone famous in the Valley or something?
Here's the key technical innovation which I think would open the door to really cool tablets, apple or otherwise. Fast refresh rate e-ink style displays (presumably with some manner of touch and/or stylus sensitive screen). That combination would (at least for me) make it the perfect reading and note taking tool.
The keyboard problem is a non-issue. On the go, you use the screen. When you place it in its nice shiny iPhone-esque dock at home, the screen is upright and a wireless keyboard and mouse can be used and it looks and feels like a PC.
There's a better reason why Apple won't build an e-reader. Kindle already owns the high end - it's the ipod of ebooks - and Apple has no interest in playing in a market where all the pressure is to simplify and undercut.
My bet is that it has a PixelQi screen- eink mode that does everything the Kindle does, but better, and then a normal mode for web browsing, email, media content, and applications.
It'll be fold-up like a netbook, same size, no keyboard or mouse, but with 2 screens, both touch-sensitive, but one with a texture you can feel, so you can type on it easily. When you unfold it 180 degrees and tilt it around, it'll act like one big screen you can watch movies on.
The tablet is going to be an iPhone and iPod Touch accessory. That's what will sell this thing, and that's what they will have in there. A tight integration with the tens of millions of mobile devices out there.