There have been rumours flying all over the place about the Apple Tablet. Some we reported, but towards the end of 2009 I decided to stop as there were so many of them it became a farce. Its very existence has been debated back and forth. However, now we have a form of confirmation.
Stéphane Richard, the number two at large firm Orange was being interviewed on the Europe 1 radio station when the issue of the Apple Table cropped up.
When he was asked whether the tablet will be announced officially before the end of the month he responded “Yes” and also said it would be available through Orange.
While this isn’t confirmation as such, it certainly gives credence to such an argument. With such a high-up in the tech industry saying the announcement for the Apple Tablet was imminent, surely we’re inclined to believe? Let’s see if his promises hold true. Do you think the Apple tablet will be announced before the end of January?
Acquisitions seem to be the trend for the new year. After MySpace acquired Imeem, Google acquired AdMob, Seesmic acquired Ping.fm, and now Apple acquires Quattro. It seems like you’re not anyone until you’ve acquired or been acquired. Big news stories all the way around, but for Apple this is a bold move in a space that has been dominated by Google. When it comes to mobile marketing capabilities, Google seems to be the clear winner, with AdMob added to its already expansive services it seemed like a clear cut win. But just this week Apple and Quattro announce the acquisition and things in the mobile marketing space seem to be heating up.
It has been reported that Google is working on a tablet computer with HTC, the company that built the hardware for the Nexus One “Google Phone“.
The report by Australian news site SmartHouse claims that HTC has “been working closely with Google for the past 18 months” on “several working models of a touch tablet”.
A lot of people will argue that Google will never promote a tablet computer of its own: that would endanger its relationships with other hardware makers.
I find it very interested that Google mentioned they would never get into the hardware industry, but they now seem to have a phone and a tablet PC on the development line. Google need to be very careful!
There has been a lot of talk and rumours about the new Apple tablet and the folks at Boy Genius Report have a claim that the new Tablet device by Apple will come with a 7-inch display.
Apple has now been asking a few of their key developers to update their apps so that it can be run on a higher-resolution iPhone OS.
According to various report over the internet Apple rented out the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco for a few days in late January 2010. Im really looking forward to seeing what the tablet can offer, but I dont really see that the market for tablet PCs is that big!
I guess Apple should really send me one to test out, maybe we could provide them with some indepth analysis on the market size, etc.
There has been a lot of talk about the Apple Tablet in the past 6 months, but now since it has been delayed the press have moved over to the actual applications which are going to be on the Apple Tablet and other Tablets. Here is a preview of what Time Inc. has come up with for Sports Illustrated. I really think it looks great and has a lot of potential. However, these applications and the content doesnt seem to be ad funded (well at least not in traditional IAB sizes), so are these all going to be completely subscription based?
It has been reported that Apple plans to postpone the launch of their much anticipated tablet PC from an original March 2010 launch to late 2010.
Sources also indicated that in addition to Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), Quanta Computer and Pegatron Technology are expected to be manufacturing partners for Apple’s two tablet PC models – one of which will have a 10.6-inch TFT LCD panel while the other will have a 9.7-inch OLED panel.
LG Display currently is making OLED panels using its 4.5G production line and LG Display’s five-year US$500 million panel purchasing contract with Apple includes supply of OLED panels, the sources pointed out.
Since 9.7-inch OLED panels are currently priced at about US$500 and panel costs normally account for about 30% of the device’s total cost, Apple’s 9.7-inch OLED tablet PC is expected to have a cost of about US$1,500-1,700 (based on today’s prices), the sources estimated. However, OLED panel prices are dropping rapidly and are expected to reach an acceptable level for notebook products by 2011, so the sources believe Apple’s delayed schedule may include such considerations.
The sources estimate that Apple’s tablet PC cost will drop to around US$1,200-1,500 by the second half of 2010 with the retail price reaching about US$2,000. The price could be more flexible if bundled with telecom providers’ 3G services. Meanwhile, the 10.6-inch LCD panel-based Apple tablet PC is expected to priced in the US$800-1,000 range.
Apple has created at least three separate prototypes of its tablet computer. Let’s call it “iPad.”
Version 1 was designed with a 7” screen, which was judged to be too small. The latest version has a 10.7” screen.
It runs iPhone OS.
There have been reports that it looks like an iPhone. They’re sort of true. It looks like an iPhone 3G, complete with a curved back.
It will come in two different variations: one with 3G networking capabilities, and one without 3G networking capabilities. Think of the 3G version as a bigscreen iPhone 3GS, and the non-3G version as a bigscreen iPod touch.
Screen resolutions will obviously jump considerably from the iPhone and iPod touch 480×320-pixel displays, enabling easy reading of full-sized book and magazine pages, plus cropped newspaper pages. Expect something like 5-6 times the resolution of an iPod touch or iPhone screen (720p or thereabouts) and 7 times the touchable surface area.
It is designed to expand the iPhone and iPod touch media concept to its next potential level: as a slate-like replacement for books and magazines, plus all of the media, gaming, app, and web functionality of the iPhone and iPod touch.
It is not meant to compete with netbooks. It’s an iPhone OS media player and light communication device.
Apple is currently planning to announce it on or before January 19, 2010, and to use an iPhone-like hype buildup period to start selling it in May or June.
It is apparently awaiting a final green light from Steve Jobs; chances of it appearing in the market are believed to be 80% at this point.
Gizmodo had an exclusive regarding the new Tablet PC from Microsoft. The tablet will be call the Courier and man does it look good.
The Courier is currently in “late prototype” stage of development and not exactly a tablet, its more of a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.
The Courier user experience presented here is almost the exact opposite of what everyone expects the Apple tablet to be, a kung fu eagle claw to Apple’s tiger style.
It’s complex: Two screens, a mashup of a pen-dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications.
There have been rumours flying all over the place about the Apple Tablet. Some we reported, but towards the end of 2009 I decided to stop as there were so many of them it became a farce. Its very existence has been debated back and forth. However, now we have a form of confirmation.
