Source: Jobs Focusing Completely on New Tablet
As Apple's rumored September 9 event draws closer, reports about the company's plans for an Apple Tablet are kicking into overdrive.
The Wall Street Journal today carries a report that cites people close to the situation as saying Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been focusing nearly all of his attention on a new tablet since he returned to work at Apple in June.
Though the WSJ sources refused to give details about specs or even a release date, one person claimed that all staff members working on the device were under a lot of pressure from Jobs, especially when it came to advertising and marketing. Another source said Jobs' involvement was making some employees uneasy, as they'd all gotten quite used to the freedoms they had when he was on six months leave.
The WSJ goes on to say that Mr Jobs said in an email, "much of your information is incorrect" but declined to provide specifics, and an Apple spokesperson refused to comment.
This isn't the first report we've heard that puts Steve Jobs at the helm of the ship in regards to the Apple tablet project. Late in July, Apple Insider quoted reliable sources who said the tablet had been in development for four years. AI's sources claimed the project was the brainchild of founder and CEO Steve Jobs and as a result, everything had to be perfect. Today's WSJ report similarly claims that Steve Jobs has killed the tablet project twice.
Read the full story here.
- QOTD: What's the Best Computer for a Student?
- StarCraft II, Diablo III Getting Pseudo-LAN
- Diablo 3 Lead Designer: Gore OK for Kids
- Nokia Launches a Mini Laptop: the 3G Booklet
- Foxconn, China Mobile to Develop Ebook Reader
- Snow Leopard Shipping Aug. 28, Pre-order Now
- Microsoft Now Hiring Staff for Retail Stores
- Mozilla: EU's Win 7 Browser Ballot is Favoritism
- Microsoft Signs Deal With WolframAlpha
- Target Ad Confirms Xbox 360 Elite Price Cuts
- Mod Marketplace Coming to StarCraft II
- Blizzard Talking Diablo III for Consoles
- Cross-Server Dungeons Coming to WoW
- Hackers Attack World of Warcraft Gamers
- NanoSSD Plugs Directly Into SATA Slot
- DISASSEMBLED: Sony's PS3 Slim
- USB 3 Makes External USB RAID ''Possible''
- Rumor: Apple to Give White MacBook a Revamp
This is a new rumor
Does anyone really care? An Apple UMPC won't do well considering the price and the fact that Windows 7 is damn near perfect for one and is a full OS, not a revamped iPhone OS. Moving on...
A new Tablet that doesn't use a crappy IGP would be quite the breakthrough.
Does anyone really care?
I bet you Microsoft cares. Snow Leopard comes out Friday, and Apple is expected to ship 5 million for the remainder of the quarter...that is over $100,000,000 in profits from selling a $29 OS. How will MS answer? Will Win7 be enough? We shall see.
iGrenade, now in 6 inches form factor! For that extra killing power you just can't get with the iGrenade 3.5inch!
...that is over $100,000,000 in profits from selling a $29 OS.
Incorrect. That's over $100,000,000 revenue. Apple has costs, too, you know.
The sad thing is many (if not the majority) of people are going to think that Apple was the first with such a device.
Steve jobs will leave the tablet to his engineers while he sits on his desk contemplating on how much he should milks the consumers with apple tax.
Does anyone really care? An Apple UMPC won't do well considering the price and the fact that Windows 7 is damn near perfect for one and is a full OS, not a revamped iPhone OS. Moving on...
The thing is, it has to be OSX in full, not the iPhone version.
Not an Apple fan, but will like the concept of the tablet for sure.
I bet you Microsoft cares. Snow Leopard comes out Friday, and Apple is expected to ship 5 million for the remainder of the quarter...that is over $100,000,000 in profits from selling a $29 OS. How will MS answer? Will Win7 be enough? We shall see.
While I agree with you somewhat... Microsoft's 90% world OS share isn't going to crumble from Snow Leopard. I fully anticipate Win 7 being the OS of choice... as usual.
The thing is, it has to be OSX in full, not the iPhone version.Not an Apple fan, but will like the concept of the tablet for sure.
The rumors have it as a bastard child of the iPhone OS and OS X. The UMPC market's main problem is that these neat tweener devices cost too damn much. Apple is walking in the wrong direction. Companies like Viliv, Aigo, and Archos are going in the right direction. Full PCs in a small form factor for a respectable price and all of them will be using Windows 7 which has built in touch controls.
TabletPC? Hello, anyone?
The sad thing is many (if not the majority) of people are going to think that Apple was the first with such a device.
Agreed, people will be praising Apple for its ingenuity by turning a "writing tablet into a full-fledged computer", ignoring the fact that Microsoft tried to spur the very same market over 5 years ago.
The question won't be about the hardware (moderately powered, overpriced), but what changes were made to the OS to properly support tablet-driven input. The iPhone OS works purely on touchscreen, but unless we're going to see that sub-$500 POS computer Steve Jobs promised us, Apple's tablet better have full OSX support. No one needs a 8+inch iPhone.
I think it will sell well and if it is $600 or less I will be an owner.
I own a HP TX2, and should move to windows7 in no time. Really would like to see what kind of machine will come out...
I bet you Microsoft cares. Snow Leopard comes out Friday, and Apple is expected to ship 5 million for the remainder of the quarter...that is over $100,000,000 in profits from selling a $29 OS. How will MS answer? Will Win7 be enough? We shall see.
I bet that Win7 will sell in higher volumes, despite the higher price. No matter how much apple fans like to think otherwise, Windows's 90% marketshare is not going to vanish just because Apple releases yet another tweak to OSX.
Why would they even bother?? It is gonna have terrible specs and be over priced, just like all other Apple products....
Besides, if people want tablets... they just buy HP's Consumer or Business series tablets... they are the best on the market.
@cabose369
Remember the iPhone? People made predictions that it would never take off but it's become majorly popular. I wouldn't be surprised if this tablet is such a hit that it displaces those HP tablets you spoke of. And know I'm no Apple fan. I own a 4 GB first gen nano and that's it. I actually don't like Apple very much lately with their shady tactics and over-priced under-speced junk.
If the tablet has a slide out keyboard instead of a twisting screen it may be good, the hinges on the twisting ones are the weak spot and I dont fancy the chances of the iClaymore.
If they remove the keyboard and have touchscreen only so it looks like those PADS they use on Star Trek it will be good too.
Thing is, does Snow Leopard have a multi-touch interface the same way Windows Tablet or Windows 7 does?
It had better be durable...
"Oh no, I scratched my precious iTab! Now I have nothing to wear that will match it!"
"all staff members working on the device were under a lot of pressure from Jobs, especially when it came to advertising and marketing."
Why not product development? More effort should not be spent hyping the product. More effort should be spent preventing it from a-sploding into the faces of those poor folks in France. Poor souls.