The Many Problems With Apple's Tablet

Source: Adam Frucci (Gizmodo)




Everyone has their panties in a twist over rumors of this upcoming Apple Tablet, but has anyone actually stopped to think about how Apple's going to address all the potential issues? Because there are quite a few.

Think about it: the rumors are of essentially a gigantic iPod Touch with a 3G connection. It's a web tablet, right? But we live in a time where $300 netbooks are the norm. Are people going to really be willing to part with $800 for a gussied-up netbook with a touchscreen and Apple design?

Sure, fanboys will drop money on anything that Apple puts out, but what features are people expecting this to have to make it worth the scratch?

eBook Reader—People are saying Apple is taking aim at the Kindle with this. But this won't deliver anything that a laptop doesn't other than making it easier to hold like a book. But it still has an LCD screen, which people don't like reading books on as much as eInk or paper. And it'll definitely cost way more than the Kindle.

Web Surfing — You can do this on a netbook for a fraction of the price.

iTunes Album Art — This is little more than an added bonus, not a selling point for a piece of hardware.

Gaming — Sure, gaming on the iPhone can be annoying because your fingers get in the way. But do you know what's more annoying? Using a touchscreen for gaming in the first place. Gaming on the iPhone is annoying because it's a touchscreen, not because it's a small touchscreen.

And there are serious issues with the entire idea of a tablet platform.

Typing—How do people envision typing on this thing? Are you going to lie it flat on your desk? Flat on your lap? And how is typing going to work on a flat surface? You won't be using your thumbs like on the iPhone. There's a reason laptops are designed the way they are with the screen at an angle to the keyboard.

Apps—Is this going to run a modified version of the iPod Touch OS or a gimped version of OS X? If it's just a big iPod Touch, we're looking at apps designed for a totally different resolution and control scheme that will then be made to work on this. How is that worth it? Is there going to be a new category in the App Store for this device, making you buy your apps over again for this new format? In what way will it straddle the line between MacBook and iPod Touch?

Performance—The iPhone is not the fastest way to surf the web, but we're OK with that because it's a phone. The tablet will be closer to a laptop, and we'll expect laptop speeds out of it. No dice. It's going to have the power of a netbook, but with less space to stuff components due to its lack of a keyboard. There's no way this will perform at a high level without it costing as much as a MacBook Pro.

There's just nothing to justify what will probably be a $700-$800 device here. Sure, it'll be slick. It looks like something from Star Trek and when it's announced, we'll all want one. The idea of lying on the couch and dicking around on the internet on a beautiful, thin slab is appealing.

But like the MacBook Air when it was first announced, after the lust wears off we'll be looking at a middle-of-the-road computer in fancy packaging that costs twice as much as comparable devices.

And the last time I checked, the economy isn't doing so hot. So really, unless Apple has an ace up their sleeve and is going to either give this some functionality we haven't thought of yet or is going to sell it for under $500, I can't imagine the demand being all that high for it.

But hell, maybe I'm underestimating the value of design. Will this thing be sexy enough to justify spending a whole lot of money on something that, functionally speaking, won't do all that much that's special?

Apple Tablet Probability Meter: 80% Chance, 4 Months Away

Source: Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)


We have been tracking the Apple Tablet for longer than I want to remember. Here's an update on the probability of it happening at all, and when we think it will launch if it does.

As far as I'm concerned, I've wanted a son of Newton since Jobs cancelled it, and I've been gagging for it since the iPhone. The latest solid rumor came from the Financial Times, which claimed that the entertainment industry "is hoping that Apple, which revolutionized the markets for music players and phones, can do it again with the new device." Suggesting it will be more giant iPod touch (good—as the iPod touch could scale up into new form factors) than pure Mac OS X Tablet (bad—as pure Mac OS X will be hard to scale down). A project with the music industry—codenamed Cocktail—will be announced in September, according to this source. The same sources point that "the device could be launched alongside the new content deals." The new content will also include books, which will put the device in direct competition against Amazon's Kindle.

The Financial Times article is vague about this, however, mentioning Apple "racing" to have the tablet available for the holiday shopping season. That may mean an announcement in September, followed by availability after Thanksgiving. That's four months away. Another article—this time from the China Times—points at an October release, which puts the thingamajig only three months away. And yet another Chinese paper claims a September or October release. Apple Insider claims that it will be available in 2010.

I'm personally inclined to trust the Financial Times rumor. Not only because of them being so adamant about their multiple sources, but because the timing makes a lot more sense than the other options. It also makes sense to announce it in this entertainment event, which will most probably include announcements for the updated nano and touch—minor updates for already-established products that only add cameras, confirmed by a myriad of new cases from China.

The big bang, however, could be the newest member of the iPod/iPhone family: The Apple Tablet. Like the iPhone—which was originally announced alongside other products during a MacWorld keynote—the Tablet won't cannibalize any existing product sales, so it makes sense to drum up the hype like they did with the iPhone, building excitement for the shopping season.

Matt, on the other hand, thinks that the device could be announced on an event on its own. His rationale is that it's too important to be released alongside other products. To me it makes more sense to tell the public that, while big—literally and metaphorically speaking—this is "another iPod", and the third model of a new family of iPhone OS-based products—a potential family which, incidentally, has been hinted by Jobs and the rest of the Apple executive team.

Whenever it is actually announced, however, the general consensus is that the tablet exists—even John Gruber is certain about it, and he rarely fails. The question now is when. According to our Apple Tablet Probability Meter, you're 80% likely to be able to buy one in four months.