O’Grady’s PowerPage has “some details of a secret development team planning specifications for the release of a new mini laptop.” According to a PowerPage’s Editor’s note, “It goes well with their current mini theme.”
These mystery units are described as “slim little mini pocketops” that run “a stripped-down flavor of Mac OS X.”
PowerPage reports, “We’re told that it will finally utilize Apple’s Inkwell technology to ‘write anywhere’ and neatly fold into your pocket – rather like an enlarged Motorola RAZR V3 mobile phone with a keyboard.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Rumor, grain of salt and all that… iBook mini?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple looking to add wireless connectivity to iPod, rumored Tablet Mac? – August 25, 2004
RUMOR: Apple handheld device on the way? – February 16, 2004
Apple hints at ‘handheld tablet computer’ with European design trademark filing – August 13, 2004
Apple readying secret iTablet for Macworld unveiling? – January 03, 2003
Tablet Mac watch begins – November 17, 2002
Linux geeks would love such a PDA
why wouldnt a linux geek buy a PDA running linux, like oh i dunno the Zarus, or i think Asus had one for awhile that was running linux like the zarus.
strip OS X of all driver support, leave wifi/BT, make a cool lil dock, ill take 2. but it needs to have UNIX underneath with all of its networking stuff, and if i could get an ethernet jack i would be in heaven.
Forget the “mini laptop”. Apple needs to take care of its high end products very soon! The power Mac line has not had a refresh for a long time. A dual 3Ghz Power Mac could be nice.
Oh God, no.
Another thing from Apple I don’t need but will surely buy.
“Apple needs to take care of its high end products very soon! The power Mac line has not had a refresh for a long time. A dual 3Ghz Power Mac could be nice.”
We already know the next upgrade for the Power Mac is going to blow the doors off. So why complain?
Just relax and be patient.
The Apple tablet is the remote control for your digital hub.
It will also have many other uses, but without a remote control, there is no viable digital hub.
Peter wrote:
“Return of the eMate?”
Could be. Wasn’t the eMate actually well-received, only to be killed along with rest of Newton? I’m not sure how profitable it was though.
Regardless, IMO supporting a “stripped-down OS” (ala Windows CE) is a mistake. The main Mac OS X platform is enough; Apple doesn’t need derivatives of it.
Why not have a compact laptop that runs the real Mac OS X, and keep costs down through a slower processor and smaller screen (than a iBook or PowerBook)?
Why not go all-out and have it use a flash drive?
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why can’t MS get better focus groups..
Apple’s not really doing anything special.. they go around ask people, do focus groups.. I’m already imagining a Tablet from Apple that doesn’t suck like the HP ones..
Things that Apple does to make the comp look stupid …
It will be a dedicated system, none of this swivel screen shit.. that’s what Apple does.. focus on a handful of ‘scenarios’ and make it really really nice… MS always tries to account for ‘scenarios’ that many people never see.. which they’ll sell as ‘features’..
What’s a stripped down version of Mac oS X.. Windows XP?
No seriously.. it will be dedicated to digital hub stuff, which is cool.. a tablet can play movies.. Sony et al have this stuff in Japan already and it’s very cool.. good stuff Apple..
this won’t cannibalize iBook sales, because it’s not a laptop.. it’s a dedicated CE device
Windows world can’t sell enough tablet style computers with their 90% of the potential target market. How could Apple get enough buyers with only 5% plus switchers. It won’t be a tablet.
PDA’s are so last century. the market is already saturated.
If it exists it is something completely different and everyone will want one. It will be copied by Windows wannabe’s and analysts will wonder why no one else though of it before.
Or O’Grady made it up to piss off Steve.
Like the iPod is to the iTunes Music Store, this is the portable video player for the Video Store. Difference is this will be more like a small iBook, i.e., using stripped-down Mac OS X apps like Dashboard widgets, and having wifi.
But if it fits in a pocket, how big can the display be? That leaves me a bit suspicious of this rumor…
king_alvarez and steve_m ask “where’s the demand?”
Once Apple signs up the movie studios, the TV studios, and the TV networks, and turns a Mac mini into the video over IP receiver for the Video Store with the ability to seamlessly stream around the house and to the portable player, the demand will be there for a stylish portable player.
The PDA-like, tablet-like functions will not be the primary driver, but will be there as a secondary function, just like on a smaller scale on the iPod.
I’d buy that, just as long as it can Bluetooth and flips open easier than my flip phone
If it were a Newton 2 (or newton squared) I would buy one, but I doubt many more people would.
It would have to cost $199.00 or less to be a hit on the market.
And it won’t.
<i>If this rumor is true and accurate, Powerpage should be good a Apple fan and keep it a secret instead of telling the world. How do these people consider themselves Mac enthusiasts when all they do is cause headaches for Apple, and spread possible unfounded rumors? They cause more problems for Apple than Microsoft does.<i>
Well said, The Duke. I couldn’t agree more.
Do these people have nothing better to do than rob other people’s future because they’re incapable of creating a worthwhile one of their own? I’d really like to know what genuine benefit they’re supposedly serving.
As likely as occuring as Glaser making a coherent business case for Real Networks.
The “stripped down” Mac OS is available for download-
http://www.opendarwin.org/en/downloads/
Mac + PC
O’Grady isn’t publishing product specifications, he isn’t revealing the name of the product in question and he isn’t telling us if or when it may be available. If this is a leak from the inside the person is not giving enough information to do much damage or to give this rumor enough credibility to make a real impact on plans, nor are they giving enough information to inadvertantly identify themselves. If it is true, the damage will be minimal, and Apple might indeed be able to use the reaction to the rumor to gather useful information about the marketplace. It might even be a red herring, purposely leading us away from what Apple really has up their sleeve.
Hint: Just because it’s portable, doesn’t mean you have to watch it on your lap..
This is just a gag by PowerPage… the style in which it is written just doesn’t sound serious either. They’re taking the piss… I reckon they’re just having some rumour-fun/ If this was for real, there’d be more details, and certainly not some vague reference to ths mysterious device being spotted “somewhere in the EU:”
“ths mysterious device being spotted ‘somewhere in the EU:'”
It was probably in that Paris elevator, next to the iMac G5 hoax.
A stripped down version of OS X? Yes! Quite plausible. OS X is UNIX. The Unix kernel can be compiled with or without dozens of components. Unix can be compiled to run anything from a wrist watch to a whole factory. Remember this phrase whenever you think about Apple – “It’s the OS [X], Stupid!”
And I knew the Newton handwriting recognition engine was too good to just throw away. Without it this would be just another PDA.
“Fer cryin’ out loud, stop talking about a mac “midi”. That means something else entirely.”
Well, Mac MIDI does mean something else. We want a Mac Midi, too.
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