Boy Genius Report's Marc Flores
reports a rumor that Apple is fixing to team up with Verizon to
release a carrier-subsidized Internet tablet - sort of a giant iPod
touch, but possibly also with a physical keyboard.
AppleInsider's Kasper Jade
reports that Apple is on track for an early 2010 launch of a tablet
computer device, although he doesn't mention a physical keyboard.
Possible OS X tablet design.
AppleInsider had reported nearly two years ago that Apple's next big
product initiative would be a modernized reiteration of its erstwhile
Newton
MessagePad, and now predicts that it will materialize as a
3G-enabled tablet with a 10" display, in many respects a jumbo iPod
touch, the design of which has the explicit and hands-on imprimatur of
Steve Jobs.
Lately I've been leaning toward the likelihood of a giganto iPod
touch type device becoming Apple's foil against the fading, but still
robust, PC netbook onslaught.
Whither Netbooks?
I still think an Apple netbook would probably sell quite well. The
number of Mac-heads who've bought PC netbooks to "Hackintosh" is
evidence supportive. Speaking of which, If you just can't wait for
Apple to get an Internet tablet out the door, a recently updated
netbook
compatibility chart posted by BoingBoing's Rob Beschizza will help
you pick the best PC netbook candidates for installing Mac OS X.
Short answer: Get an HP
Mini 1000 or a Dell Mini 9/Vostro
A90 for the smoothest Hackintosh netbook ride.
However, there's little profit in netbooks, and as Steve Jobs
remarked last year, lowballing isn't in the company's DNA, a point
reaffirmed by Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook in Apple's quarterly
fiscal roundup conference call last week with his observation that
Apple doesn't want to build the most computers - just the best
computers.
The $700 Gap
However, there is that yawning gap between the $299 high-end iPod
touch and the $999 polycarbonate MacBook White. Venture
Beat's Dean Takahashi is
predicting a price point of about $800 for the "iTouch" tablet (for
lack of an official name - and with acknowledgement that Tyco
Electronics has registered ITOUCH for "CRT and flat panel displays in
which the display surface functions as a touch sensor; and software
drivers, controllers and user manuals sold as a unit therewith", which
is probably why Apple itself never uses the term - dk). I hope
it's less than that.
Given that the development and tooling costs of the "whiteBook" have
been amortized long since, I think there should be room to drop its
price a bit further if Apple intends to keep building this entry-level
MacBook, perhaps to $899 or even $849, which would put it in the
ballpark of higher-priced deluxe PC netbooks.
However Apple still needs product in the range between $300 and
$900, which is why an Apple tablet device now seems all but inevitable.
I don't like touchscreens, but if they include a real keyboard or even
compatibility with an external one, I would be satisfied on that
front.
The Brains of the New Machine
Dean Takahashi also contends that the iTouch processor chip is being
designed in-house by Apple's PA Semi unit, which it acquired in April
2008 for $278 million for reasons that have never been made clear.
Clarification may be at hand.
Takahashi reports he's learned that PA Semi's team was split into
two parts, one designing portable ARM-based processors for iPhones and
iPods, another designing a processor for the tablet device.
Personally, I would prefer a machine that supported the standard
Mac OS X, but will concede that for the target market, the
iPhone OS (a version of OS X) and its access to the thousands of
iPhone apps makes sense - and from a business perspective this would be
less likely to cannibalize sales from the full-featured MacBooks.
Seeking Alpha's Jason Schwarz
thinks that the iTouch tablet "is about to change society as we
know it," will become Apple's flagship product, and demand will
overwhelm Apple.
Schwartz joins the gelling consensus that the iTouch will be
essentially a larger version of the iPod Touch, but says it's primed to
be the most significant product announcement in Apple's history
because:
- It will be an App Machine.
- It will have mobile high speed connectivity.
- It will support free communication with its connectivity focus
being routed away from wireless cellphone carriers and towards the
Internet.
- It will not be subject to the wireless carrier exclusivity that
hobbles the iPhone, making support for that device inhibited and
absurdly expensive.
My guess is that what will likely emerge is a machine running the
iPhone OS that is even thinner than the MacBook Air with a 10" multitouch
screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, an onscreen touch keyboard plus an optional
mechanical wireless keyboard and mouse, no optical drive (possibly an
optional external one a la the MacBook Air), a couple of USB
ports, and possibly an SD Card reader.
If Apple makes it capable of running the Mac OS as well, that would
be delicious icing on the proverbial cake.
