Though the company has publicly claimed that it has no intention of entering the netbook market, rumour mills are saying that such a device could come out in 2010 and potentially challenge the Kindle and other players
Though the company has publicly claimed that it has no intention of entering the netbook market, rumour mills are saying that such a device could come out in 2010 and potentially challenge the Kindle and other players
The nice thing about being Apple is that people take rumours as seriously as real products. And armchair journalists, who are given to speculation, are capable of going one better and actually coming up with product ideas for companies to work on.
In the case of the Mac tablet, one doesn't know what is happening. Most companies are understandably cagey when it comes to product details of upcoming products, so Apple might actually be hiding something. On the other hand, this could be little more than the imagination of some writer.
What is it?
On the face of it, the idea seems simple Apple already has its best-selling iPhone, and all that one has to do is come up with is a bigger screen and you have a nice little tablet PC. Of course, it is going to be priced a little above Windows products, but a Mac is a Mac, right?
The problem with such reasoning is that sometimes it is too good to be true, though there are a lot of rumours on such a product. One site called macrumors.com has some nice stuff on such a product, with details that, if true, could be very interesting for Mac fans.
Coming soon?
Eric Slivka, writing in macrumors.com under the heading 'Apple Tablet Coming in 2010?' quotes a Silicon Alley Insider report as saying that the tablet computer will not arrive until sometime in the first half of 2010.
The same entry also quotes AppleInsider as saying that the tablet is expected to be priced in the $500-$700 range and thus bridge the gap between the iPod touch and the entry level MacBook. 'The tablet would utilise a display somewhere between 7- and 10-inches and would be well differentiated from existing netbook offerings, which Apple has repeatedly said it has no interest in duplicating due to the poor user experience such devices offer,' he writes.
The evidence?
And as if this is not enough, digitimes.com says that Wintek would supply panel modules for upcoming Apple e-book form factor netbook. David Coursey, in a blog on the PC World site, writes, 'I think the rumours all describe a single device, This is the oversized iPod touch that I'm calling the media pad, but could also be seen to be a small tablet or even a netbook without a physical keyboard, just one that appears on-screen.'
In all probability, he is right, but until Apple brings out the product, we will never know. And if Apple never brings out such a product, then, well, the rumours will
continue!
How about a folding digital ink device?
The main difference between a laptop and a netbook and a desktop is size. Could this one day also define tablet PCs?
If I may be permitted to let my imagination run wild, then I could imagine a device that is like a newspaper. You can fold it or expand it. Can't we have a foldable screen that capable of being expanded or contracted at will?
u00a0
You could fold it while checking half a dozen selected stock quotes on a local train, and expand it and see the entire performance of the Sensexu2014liveu2014when you are sitting in a park.
While this device may look futuristic today, researchers may soon ensure that such a product becomes reality tomorrow.
QUICK TAKE>>Rumour has it that Apple is working on a tablet computer
>>This could be an oversized iPod Touch
>>Apple, however, says it doesn't want to enter the netbook market
