Apple Tablet: iPad

[haven]

"Imagine an ... iPhone with a very powerful processor..."

One major problem with the iPhone is its short battery life.
For a device that is supposed to be carried with you throughout
the day, the current iPhone has marginal battery life. Add
a faster processor, and that battery life goes down even faster.

I'm not saying a faster iPhone is a bad idea, only that there will
have to be a compromises in size and/or weight to give the new
device enough battery life.

One of the advantages of a larger device (iPod Touch XL? iPad?)
is that there's room for a larger battery!

"to work on both the AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks."

Today, Verizon's network uses CDMA technology to send data over
the airways. AT&T uses GSM. The two radio technologies are not
compatible. It would be practical for Apple to make versions of
the iPhone that work on one network or the other, but not both.

If you want the end user to be able to swap networks, then you
could use a radio in an external USB dongle. You'd need contracts
with both ATT and Verizon, of course.

The good news is that Verizon and AT&T are both planning to use
LTE radio technology for their 4G data networks. So in a couple of
years, you'll be able to buy an iPhone that works on both ATT and
Verizon 4G networks (separate contracts for each, of course).

 

[winkosmosis]

And I'd add usability. A lot of people deride the popularity of Mac products as a response to aesthetics, which in part it is. But I think of it more as design, which goes beyond aesthetics into usability. What a lot of non Mac product creators have had hard time understanding is that design counts, details count. Usability, a good user experience, is dependent on good design not just technical specifications. Mac outshines it's competitors in the design and usability department IMO. It's the experience I get using their products and Apps that makes me a loyal customer.

My employer makes some ArcMap plugins for editing land parcels. I'm a mapper, but I also do software testing. I've been trying to get the developers to understand how important usability is, but they just don't.

 

[haven]

"The iPod was successful because of iTunes- content."

Word. The commercial battlefield is littered with dead or dying
music players from many big name companies (Microsoft Zune,
anyone?). It's not that these products were not able to play
music as well as the iPod, or lacked features that the iPod has.
What they lacked was access to content.

In 2008, the iTunes store passed WalMart as the number one
source of music in USA, despite all the CDs that WalMart sells.
I've read that in 2009 the iTunes store sold somewhere between
70% and 90% of all online music purchases.

So what content can Apple offer to drive acceptance of its rumored
tablet computer? My guess is that it will be videos, movies, books
and magazines.

 

[DaveM]

My employer makes some ArcMap plugins for editing land parcels. I'm a mapper, but I also do software testing. I've been trying to get the developers to understand how important usability is, but they just don't.

Don't get me started on the importance of design in both mapping software or GIS mapping in general. Interface and usability are terrible in most GIS software (GeoMeida is far worse than Arc though). Happily in my freelance life I get to use Mac's, Illustrator and MAPublisher... all very well designed for their purpose.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

The idea of the "One Device" has been kicking around for a long time, but no one has done it. Partly that has been due to content availability and partly due to technology.

From the content perspective the producers are finally being dragged to the web and making their content available there. They still haven't figured out how to make as much money as they do with hard copies of the product, but in truth the future for content producers will be lower earnings. Not only because buyers of on line content will pay less, but because the creative types who actually produce the content are going to-by pass publishers.

This is already happening in the music business. Fewer and fewer young musicians pine for a record contract and those who are out producing their own, no longer need to have minimum orders of a 1000 CDs or in olden days vinyl LP produced. They are distributing online and if they do burn CDs they do a dozen at a time.

If the content wasn't available why would the hardware vendors produce the device, remember MP3 players were a technology backwater till the iTunes store. Kindle and the B&N reader are the same, but they are important to the producer because they have content they can sell.

From the hardware side the tech has been there for several years, though not in a package, the problem has been the OS. No one wants to sit around and wait for Window or the Apple OS to boot. But that problem can be solved as several of the smart phones have OSs that are nearly robust enough for this application and are available in seconds after starting the device. Linux can manage the device and is fast booting, but someone will need to develop an attractive, easy to use interface. The Chrome OS would also makes sense but in this case it will need some fairly robust capability to operate when not connected to the internet.

Intuitively this market makes sense for Apple, but they may have missed the chance to own it as they do the music market.

Jim

 

[spressomon]

I have never been an Apple user. I recently bought a Touch for our 2 week trip that I needed to have e-mail access for and needed a new music player. WOW is all I can say. If the tablet is anything like the touch or Iphone I would probably look at one now.

My touch just eliminated 3 devices in my house : mp3 player, gameboy, calculator, and soon my GPS when dual electronics comes out with their new add on GPS.

I am now sold on Apple usability and apparently thousands of others are too as the Apple store in Waikiki was a zoo!

Wait until you get your new iMac! :coffeedrink:

 

[grahamfitter]

An interesting alternative would be the Microsoft Courier, if it ever materializes: Link to Gizmodo article

As far as single or general purpose devices go, my opinion is that its all about the data -- music, maps, books, TV shows, etc. -- and whatever gives the user the best experience with that data will thrive. At least until something better comes along.

For the record, I don't yet own an mp3 player, smartphone, ebook reader or gps because I'm waiting for something better to come along. The Apple iPod is very tempting but does't talk Verizon which I'm five-person-family-plan tied to for another year. It will be interesting to see what Android devices appear in the mean time.

Cheers,
Graham

-- Sent from my ASUS EEE PC running Ubuntu.

 

[Christophe Noel]

The death of the single purpose device is coming, and quickly. Within five years, .

I can see having a single device that serves as my GPS, phone, camera, music source, etc, because I have that now. I also can see myself owning a Tablet when it's available. However, that sucker won't fit in my pocket and it certainly won't fit on my bicycle handlebars so I'll likely have a portable widget, a bike computer (GPS) and a camera that actually takes pics.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I like the Courier. I'm probably in the minority but for business purposes and note taking I prefer something that's pen based or at least has the option to be. And as an earlier adopter of the Palm Pilot, I loved the character recognition option. After a while I stopped using a note pad for business meetings and uploading the notes into Outlook. Alas the corporate standard became a Blackberry and the infernal thumb keyboard and it was back to paper and transcribing the key points and keeping paper files of the rest.

 

[haven]

The Viliv X70 mobile internet device shows what an Apple "iPad"
might be like. Read more here
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=517765&postcount=14

How large should the screen of the Apple iPad be? Standard sizes are
4.8 inches
7.0 inches
8.9 inches
10.2 inches
11.6 inches
12.0 inches

 

[gearbox]

I may be in the minority here: I love Apple products, but I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker. I've had my share of Apple products from computers to iPods but I've avoided the iPhone 'cause I can't justify paying for a glorified phone and pay $100/mo.
I had been wishing for years that I could access the Internet and navigate better than my TWO Garmins allow when I'm exploring. I'm not going to put in a touch-screen and a Mac Mini. A tablet would fit the bill if it blends a GPS with Google Earth or an equivalent.
That being said, the tablet computer has been tried and re-tried by Apple since the late eighties and it never cut mustard. The Apple fanatics are crying wolf now and I'll believe it when it's on its 3rd gen and costs $99.95 with free shipping :sombrero: Of course, the public is actually ready for it this time, since they've been acclimated from using the iPhone/iPod Touch...


Count me in agreeance with the prophet stating that we will see an end to single-function devices (although I'm not giving up my DSLR. Wait, most pro-sumer DSLRs shoot video!).
I think Google stands the best chance of competing with Apple. Those are the two most progressive tech companies providing software, apps, UIs, OSes, etc.. Google is recently getting into hardware (well, contracting the manufacture), and they have the resources to produce some smashingly fantastic features. I think Apple will KO Google, but I hope the competition is fierce so that the consumers (ME!) will benefit. Plus, I think Google is creepy when it comes to privacy so I'm going to go with Apple anyway. :elkgrin:
I don't think Microsoft stands a chance at a tablet or multi-function porta-puter. They can copy others kinda well, but they'll be behind the curve again. The manufacturer of wireless fast-food ordering systems stands a better chance of competition that MS :bike_rider:

 

[haven]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10412330-37.html

One more rumor:

Investment firm Oppenheimer thinks Apple will release a
tablet computer in March or April. The device will use a 10.1
inch color display and be priced around $1000. The production
level could reach 1 million a month.

As part of the plan, deals for content are being offered by Apple
to publishers. Reportedly, the publisher will keep 70% of the
sale price. In contrast, Amazon offers 70% only if the publisher
is willing to grant Amazon exclusive delivery rights.

In related news, on 8 December a consortium of five publishers
announced a group effort to package and distribute their printed
content in electronic form. The participants include Condé Nast,
Hearst, Meredith, News Corp., and Time Inc. Together they publish
50 popular monthly magazines. The goal is to make the digital
material available to most all of the popular platforms, including
PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry and others.

The consortium expects to charge money for delivery of the content,
rather than depend on advertising income, Google-style.

 

[nwoods]

Darn, Haven beat me too it, again.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...uary_production_start_10_inch_lcd_screen.html

 

[Root Moose]

New rumour that I heard (new to me anyway) was that there will be two versions:

- one with a "traditional" LCD display at ~$850

- one with an OLED display at ~$1150.

I must have the OLED version....

 

[haven]

The OLED version might be equipped with a touchscreen from Pixel Qi. The cool feature of this screen is that it has two viewing modes: a full-power mode that looks like any other color LCD screen, and a low-power mode that looks like the screen in the Kindle e-reader. The low-power mode has lower reflectivity, so it looks more like a sheet of paper. It also is very legible outdoors.

Pixel Qi is supposed to start production of a 10 inch dual mode display this month, which matches with the rumors of a March delivery of the Apple tablet. Mary Lou Jepson, Pixel Qi's CEO, keeps a blog about the company's activities. The entry for 7 December says "the first units are going into specialized tablet devices with multi-touch" http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2009/12/

Pixel Qi says it will announce what companies are building products using its displays before the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the first week of January. Pixel Qi's VP for Engineering worked at Apple on the iPhone display.

Incidentally, "Qi" is a Chinese word, and pronounced "chee."