Mac Tablet Ping!
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Posted on 01/04/2010 11:26:24 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
Apple Inc., seeking to win a larger share of the market for handheld computers, is planning to unveil a tablet PC this month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The device is scheduled to go on sale in March, said the person, who declined to be identified because details of the product are private.
Offering a tablet PC would help Apple capitalize on demand from consumers for devices that can surf the Web and play movies and music. The product may also spark fresh competition for Amazon.com Inc., maker of the Kindle electronic-book reader, as well as makers of netbooks such as Acer Inc., Asustek Computer Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
“We expect the key differentiator of the device to be its software,” Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis, wrote in a note to clients last week. “Apple’s tablet would compete well in the netbook category, even though it would not be a netbook.”
Apple might sell about 1.4 million tablets in 2010 if the product goes on sale in March, Munster wrote. If the product sells for about $600, that would increase the company’s sales by about 2 percent, he said. Apple may design the tablet to support the more than 100,000 applications that currently run on its iPhone, he said.
“We are not going to comment on rumors and speculation,” said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple. Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Amazon, declined to comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
ping.
interactive magazine or ebook is a stupid idea. If it was, then webpages would’ve done it by now.
Kindle is a hot seller. There is a demand.
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What do you think FreeRepublic is? It's an interactive News and Commentary magazine for conservatives without advertising. Many other websites are similar with Advertising.
I think they have a killer hit on this one. Just wish I had waited another few months before I dumped that $450 into a Toshiba AMD dual core cpu 3 gig ram and windows 7 on it. I could have put it into the Apple product.
My sales prediction:
1st Gen - March-Sept 2010 - 1,585,400 units
2nd Gen - Oct 2010 to Jun 2011 - 4,447,600 units
3rd Gen - July 2011 to Jun 2012 - 15,553,200 units
Sorry, but the idea of a tablet excites me about as much as a bowl of dry oatmeal.
A portable 7 to 10 inch high density screen capable of playing movies and TV shows in HD, playing music, acting as a audiovisual communication device, surfing the web, and performing basic computer functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, and finances, able to work almost anywhere through a WiFi or 3G network, capable of running they myriad of iPhone “apps”, all realized in seamless Apple style, in fact does excite me.
And it will others, too, if it’s done right.
‘capable of running they myriad of iPhone “apps”’
Read: “games”, the other “killer app” category. If the iPhone is an acceptable gaming platform, this should be quite a bit better.
Should be a very interesting product, and they’re sure building up the anticipation nicely... ;-)
I can see lots of possible uses if done right. And I'm sure as A-R as Jobs is, it will be done right.
A digital clipboard, notebook, etc, etc.. Lots of possibilities.
Quite frankly, I think one of the primary reasons tablets haven't taken off very well before now has been form factor, and windows.
What are we talking about here on the PRICE of this thing???
Never mind! Article says $600.00! Just wow!
!
I’ve pretty much given up on my computer (only need the two-headed power-crunching behemoth at work) in favor of my iPod Touch: all email, websurfing, news reading, and even books work on it to my satisfaction save only for screen size. Give me a 7” iPod Touch and a proper (read: new) paradigm for using it and I’m so there.
Hey, it’s 2010. We’re well into the 21st Century. We’ve all had time to transition into the sci-fi future we long dreamed of. This iSlate could be the big breakthrough we need.
I have a concern that actually plays into many anti-Apple trolls....
Cost. While I am willing to spend $1200 for a Macbook will all that I want, I just can’t see spending $600 for a tablet or an Apple take on a Netbook, when one can pick up an adequate netbook, if so inclined, for $300. And for it to do enough to justify $600 to ME (obviously, I am not in Apple’s target customer for this product), it would have to essentially take the place of a MacBook for me - with the core capabilities it has.
I think I will stick with my iPhone...
Is this the year the Dick Tracy Wrist Radio its the market or did I sleep through that too...
The technology is here, it just needs marketing.
The device is scheduled to go on sale in Marchheard that too; I wonder if the late-January demo Apple plans to give will be for the jump to Verizon (or T-Mobile?) or for the tablet? If it's the jump, the tablet rumors served one purpose, which was to get that other recent rumor off the front page. Also, the rumors of a fatter version of the 3G iPhone will probably be announced, whatever else goes down?
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