Apple Tablet Aiming to "Redefine Print"

at that price point and for its rumored purpose i foresee extremely limited adoption.

@njkid: you lack vision. This is apple here. They could slap their logo on a brick, charge $500, and sell millions to idiots who buy anything labeled as Apple, regardless of what it does or how well it does it. Then they find out the brick's battery can't be replaced, and complain on the forums. Apple deletes the forum entries with the complaints, and the people who complained forget there was ever a problem, and line up to buy to new iBrick 2.0, which is the same as the first iBrick, but only costs $400 this time.

i understand where you are coming from but my comment was meant for limited adoption with people with a brain and not by mindless drones.

Why does it always sound like they are "redefining" everything when what they end up with isn't actually that special

I think that's a little skewed. Eveything has it's problems, but some companies have a different idea of innovation. I doubt they are just throwing around the idea of a kindle like device but rather a tablet like device with an integrated ereader. I think you need to stop coining consumers as idiots.

$800-1000? Nothing more than a Kindle DX with an Apple tax?

Hellwig's comment is so awesome it deserves to be repeated.

No, Apple fanatics will find a way to explain how all of these precursors actually copied Apple's product. Just wait...

Here:s how I foresee the Apple tablet:

Looks sorta like s large iPod touch, centered heavily on entertainment (don't forget games!). It will be the perfect size for ebooks, and even a good size for etextbooks (esp with color scree). The Kindle etexbook experiment has flopped for many reasons, but I bet if you put etextbooks on a large ipod-esque tablet computer you'll have a winner. All that stuff into something as thick as one of the early-generation iPod classics (10GB?) weighing a half pound or so.

heh, didn't anyone tell you? "mindless drones" are like 95% of the market!

i cannot find the video on you-tube about the dual mode e-ink screen that I saw around february.. my guess is that apple will use said screen (which has a faster update than kindle (and color).

therefore, it will probably be the ipod of magazines. because it will be able to show full page color print ads......

What's not innovative here? Full color touch screen Kindle! ie. Newspapers and magazines with color.

Stop hating on Apple because they might do it first. Someone else will come out with the same thing later next year that YOU can afford (then you'll applaud it). Besides, I know all of you love your overpriced iPods.

Haha, I did that yesterday at someone wearing an Omega. I guess that means I can stick with my belief that Apple is ridiculous because of their prices, more commonly called 'The Apple Tax'.

$20 Armitron Sports Watch FTW.

No. I'm pretty sure everyone here has valid reasons for hating Apple; a few of them, hellwig said already (if you didn't read).
Here are some of mine:
1. Apple is a closed company. They control what their products can do and what they can't do. In essence, they limit technology.
2. Apple loves to invent their own proprietary means instead of using industry standards.
3. Apple charges ridiculous amounts of money for products that are no better than the competitions (in many cases, worse).
4. Apple touts themselves as the leader and innovator of the industry, yet all of their products are old technology.
5. Apple continues to mislead the public with their ad campaign.
6. Apple represents censorship. They tell you what to do with their products when, and how many options you have to do it with. The rest of the industry is free and gives you...choices!

You're comparing a computer to a piece of jewelry. That's not what a computer is - it's meant to do work (and have fun). Is somehow a Rolex better than a Timex just because it has 6x it's cost? Last time I checked, they both told time. The Timex probably has more features, too.

You may hold your Macbook Pro on the streetcorner with your Rolex on your wrist and think you're "cool", but I just think you're an idiot wasting money. Buying "pretty" things doesn't make you smart, or cool. I don't like Apple because I prefer to have a choice on what I do with my computer, and I prefer not to pay $2000 for it, either.

A tablet PC that is also a printer? I hope so!

Are you guys joking? Are you really that short sighted?

This is a kindle on steroids and while Apple charges more, their products are top notch. It's an iPod for print, with content designed for it (like iTunes LP) and interactive textbooks/newspapers etc. that could be great.

For $800, too much....

But of course, that is just ONE aspect of the tablet. Videos, internet, tablet drawing, iPhone apps, and large screen form iPhone style apps, etc. - there are a lot of uses here that could really encroach on a lot of other products. With Apple's soft keyboard it could be a serious competitor to netbooks with a data bundle discount (rumored via verizon).

This will take a chunk out of the tablet market. The attached drawing pads (rumored to connect with macbooks). Netbooks. The Kindle. Portable DVD players. GPS devices. This could be used from pizza delivery to UPS/FedEx.

All I'm saying is, this isn't an $800 kindle.

its already known that several other companies where already thinking of a way to make colored digital ink. there's nothing new with that. if apple comes out with a good product good on them. i just want to see genuine innovation. if there going to make claims like they did for there mice, ipods and OS then im not going to be interested. i have nothing against apple products i think there well designed and a lot of thought goes into there aesthetic appeal the thing that gripes me the most is there PR campaing and while they continue to advertise the way they do i will continue to look down on them

What a bunch of retards you lot are. Not a brain between you. Perfect MS customers.

SLAX Linux is my main OS. I just use Windows for gaming. Seeing as I couldn't use Mac OS for that even if I wanted to.

Suck on them apples.

No, etichi, you didn't understand me I guess.

1. I don't ever recall saying anything about Microsoft. I program on Linux, too. The levels of software built for Linux and Windows are far more than Apple's OSs - they're less open then Microsoft about what they build, especially in terms of hardware capability and compatibility.
2. Sure, but what about HDMI? Blu-ray? HDCP? SPDIF? Optical Audio? Expresscard? A simple memory card reader? You won't find any of them on Apple computers.
3. I said ridiculous amounts of money relative to competing products. This sets aside any single person's economic situation.
4. "Nice" is relative, now - I think Apple's products are the ugliest things. But that's not what I was talking about, anyway.
5. Propganda is not a reason to hate? Did you miss that lesson in grade school? I can think of 10 ad campaigns that are a great reason to hate - one that resulted in the loss of millions of lives.
6. You buy a song on iTunes, you can only use it on Apple products. You can only play it on iTunes (which really sucks..) You buy OS X, you can only use it on Apple products. You want a new battery? Nope, not serviceable. Have a problem and take it up in Apple's forum? The thread gets deleted. Only applications Apple approves you can download on your phone - and they can pull them off whenever they want.

Yeah, I got the analogy, and you got exactly what I was saying - paying more money for something that does the same thing as something that's cheaper is just dumb. Sure, there are some areas where this doesn't exactly apply due to human nature - but it's a computer, not a luxury item. You're not taking your Macbook down the street checking the time, are you?

I'm not saying people are stupid because they spend money on a Mac. I'm saying people are stupid for spending money on a Mac when there are better, cheaper options available. Why spend money where it isn't necessary? I don't care how much money you have - that doesn't invalidate the fact that wasting money is stupid.

My mac book pro has SPDIF (this is optical) in and out, express card slot and firewire 800. The brand new mac books have an SD card slot. It is very easy to hook up a USB card reader. No blu-ray yet, but sure it will be soon. Oh and my mac book can be re-sold for pretty much what I paid for it new. My Lenovo does not have optical audio or a memory card reader or firewire, extended battery on it only lasts about 2 hours and is worth nearly less than half what I paid last year and to buy windows 7 for it will cost me 6x the amount it did to upgrade to Snow Leopard.

One other point. I play Call of Duty, Red Alert 3 and Civ IV all natively on my macbook. There is also some great software you won't find on windows or linux. Pixelmator is GREAT alternative to Photoshop and only works on OS X it is around $50.

Other software I use on my mac includes:
Blender
Handbrake
Mono
Eclipse
Netbeans
MySQL
Parallels
and many more.

OS X is fully unix compliant and even comes with subversion. I like my mac book because it is thinner and lighter than most other laptops. It also runs windows and linux perfect so when I am at client sites (I am a contract developer) I have every OS and piece of software I would ever need. Why is this considered a waste of money or an Apple Tax?

Jeez the Apple whining on this site is so freaking old. Unless you drive to Walmart in a KIA and buy all off-brand products you are just a bunch of whiny hypocrites anyways. I seriously cannot understand why people feel the need to classify anyone who buys anything Apple as a mindless drone and/or berate them for their buying decisions. What the fuck business is it of yours if I want to buy an Apple Tablet? Seriously. It isn't your money. Fuck off. Go find me a decent tablet with a 10" form factor for $800. Go ahead. It doesn't exist.

If you ask me the only mindless idiots are the ones who refuse to branch out, at all, from the Windows platform. I've got a T61, a custom built desktop, and a Macbook Pro. Guess which one I enjoy using the most? I guess that makes me a mindless drone, because, well, I own multiple pieces of hardware and get the best of all the worlds. You guys with your custom built gaming PC's that bash Apple all day are total badasses and are so super smart. If only I was intelligent enough.

Stop stalking me. Srsly. Kia Spectra 5 '06. Walmart every day... To catch the BUS!

... So twice now, people have validated my personal belief that Apple is too expensive. I'm not saying it goes for other people, but for my own.

... Nice.

Newton 2.0

@tayb have you looked at the ASUS Eee PC T91, according to http://www.notebookreview.com/defa [...] eee+pc+t91 it's a good cheap tablet PC. Sure you have to do with a 1.1 inch smaller screen, however it also gives you the advantage of having a keyboard and thats at a $499.00 pricepoint. I'm sure the Apple Tablet won't have much more features than this thing and still you will be happy to pay $300 more for it.

Some people like apple products and some don't. In the end it comes down to taste or prioritizing. Personally my favorite phone right now would have to be the samsung omnia hd, but I'm not going to buy one simply because I prioritze differently. An iphone or omnia hd isn't a bad product just because I choose the much cheaper (and much less feature-heavy) nokia 5310.

When and if this tablet arrives it will be interesting to see if they have any nice features. Personally I read a lot and would love an e-reader, but the current crop is simply not good enough. If the itablet offers speed of operation, long battery life, reasonably high resolution, colours, an os that can do more than simply display text, a wealth of content, and a reasonable way to aquire and access said content they will have a unique product.

Maybe I will still not spend USD 1000 on it for various reasons, but it will be solid. If the "brainless followers" also make the market for the itablet big then that is nothing but a huge plus. A content platform needs a big market to be all it can be.

I don't like Apple for many reasons.

I hate their ads which blatantly lie to consumers.

Their products are way to expensive and instead of trying to make them cheaper they just "upgrade" the hardware a little then sell it to you as the same price point before. For their low end mac pro I can build an top of the line gaming rig that will outperform it any day.

Their OS isn't better, I've used it extensively at work and can say that it crashes as much as windows does if not more. I will give them that they are second to none for video editing and audio editing.

Sure you may make the claim to Linux is better however I doubt more than 10% of normal consumers have even used it. Yes it is nice because I do use it for software development and that there is a nice support by way of forums and such. But I still wouldn't replace my windows platform by using Linux exclusively.

Now speaking on the topic I say good luck to them in a sarcastic way. Unless they have totally fixed the major bugs from Kindle I wouldn't see that as being a decent product.

I'm not against being completely paperless but I have yet to see someone pull it off so I guess we'll have to see how this plays out.

That is pretty clearly NOT a slate tablet. I don't want a convertible notebook. I've had one before and I won't ever get one again. The hinge wears down over time, the machine is ridiculously bulky, the touch features are thrown in after the fact and not designed around it, and the real kicker is the resistive touchscreen instead of capacitive. There is a reason that "tablet" is so cheap. I have no use for a netbook with some crappy tablet features thrown in that operate poorly.

we will see what happens.
but for $800-1,000 i could replace my entire printed book collection which fills up a whole bookshelf and then some.

Currently - nothankyou.

How come the common assumption is if you own an mac that you bought it from apple and paid full retail price and have no inclination to shop for deals? I bought my wife one of the white mac books from microcenter a few months back and it had a $250 rebate on it. In fact if you take the time and shop around like any smart consumer you can get a mac pretty cheap. What is the argument for calling me an idiot if I paid the same amount of money as windows machine if I prefer to use OS X?