“A new financial analysis predicts that Apple’s yet-to-be-announced tablet will launch in early 2010,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider. “The report, from market research firm Piper Jaffray, states that potential revenue from such a device has not yet been included in forecast models for Apple on Wall Street. The firm predicts that the product would increase the company’s overall revenue by 3 percent in 2010 [2M units in its first year at an estimated US$600 ASP equals $1.2 billion in revenue].”
“‘While at first glance this may appear to address a niche market, we believe the addressable market is larger than that of the Apple TV, of which Apple sold about 1.2m in its first year,’ the report states,” Hughes reports. “The firm sees a tablet filling a void between the iPod touch and low-end MacBook. While the product will not be a netbook and will not be marketed as a netbook, Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster believes the product would be geared towards users who want convenient, inexpensive computers for simple tasks like Web browsing and checking e-mail.”
Hughes reports, “Munster also speculates that the device will run a version of the iPhone OS and have access to the App Store… ‘Apple could choose to simply run the current App Store apps on the larger device, with enough usable space for multiple apps to run (multi-tasking) [while] key apps, like Safari and Mail, could be made larger to make use of the larger screen resolution,’ the report states.”
Full article here.
OSX, or you lose me.
I don’t want a bigger iphone and my macbook is great but I would buy a slimmed down OSX based web surfer / ebook reader….time will tell
So now they are anal-yzing based on nonexistent, unannounced products?
The iPhone & iPod touch require you to own a computer as well. This new tablet needs to be able to function on it’s own without a separate computer.
ECHO….Echo….echo….
I remember when Steve talked about Flash on smartphones, how there’s Flash-lite, Flash for computers but “There’s this missing product in the middle.” I think that’s the same solution for the iTab. It won’t be iPhone OS X, it won’t be full OS X for Macs. It will be a new hybrid version. So I can’t say whether or not I’ll like it until I see it.
Nothing new here. Such a device is extremely niche. Do lots of people want a bigger iPod touch? Maybe. I don’t.
I think we can trust one thing, all this speculation is just that – speculation – wild ass speculation! Whatever new device Apple has in the works is not going to resemble anything any of these people are speculating. Tablet, netbook or whatever, when it comes out it will not meet any of the current conventions of what we think any of those devices should look like or how they perform. Remember, we have seen nothing from the PA Semi acquisition. Combine that with what Apple has learned about touch technology, machining vast amounts of aluminum, glass technology, battery technology, operating system, their tendency to go outside the existing box on most anything they do — the list goes on and on. My limited capacity mind can’t even conceive of what they may do next. I just feel it will again break the rules!
I can see these being used in Apple’s stores for appointments and such. Hospitals and many other places could use such a device. Consumers may not be the target audience.
@Rob:
“So now they are anal-yzing based on nonexistent, unannounced products?”
If that doesn’t tell you how much substance these analysts have how much stock (no pun intended) to put in the quality of their opinions, nothing will…
They are not to be trusted unless backed by a long substantial record.
The Enterprise Tablet ?
@ Ron,
You’re already lost. The iPhone OS is a subset of OS X. What’s missing is not needed if the iTablet is locked down like the iPhone.
@ iSteve,
The iPhone 3GS does not need a computer to operate. MobileMe is not even a requirement. China, here we come.
Forget net book, NBs are lame laptops, the new iBook will be a reader + music + movies + net + virtual keyboard. Size of & function of a Kindle plus all that other stuff. It’s do iTunes + Apps + a new Book Store.
I can’t wait until we get new iPods, iMac refresh/price drop and iTunes store updates in September followed by 2 weeks of people bemoaning the missing tablet. You guys are giving too much credit to these analyst who just want traffic on their blogs/sites.
What is interesting to me is the unusually high return rate that has been reported for netbooks. The implication is that buyers don’t realize the limitations of these ultra-portable devices and end up being disappointed in their capabilities. Considering how totally reliant on the internet the whole society has become, there must surely be a place for a device substantially smaller than a laptop that gives users easy internet access away from home. The iPhone already does that, but web surfing on a 3.5″ screen is definitely a mixed bag. The question is: How do you market a device that isn’t a full-featured laptop without giving people the mistaken impression that it is?
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode…
wont this tablet also have a negative impact on the revenue from macbook sales?!
The high return rate for netbooks might also be because most of them are cheap pieces of shit.
Anything Apple offers will be targeted at wherever they feel they can make the most profit. There is little doubt the iPod/iPhone is driving Apple’s recent success and a tablet would be aimed squarely at this same demographic meaning it will be limited like an iPhone but offer some very advanced media features built for making profit from the iTunes Store in audio and video sales. What they most assuredly won’t do is simply offer a touch based tablet running Mac OS X. A tablet could augment a Mac and the product infrastructure but won’t come close to replacing a standard laptop. Similar to the AppleTV, there’s lots of things it could do … but it doesn’t … and the hopeful prognosticators will wail, again.
@big al
if you don’t have another computer you can’t install updates. At least currently.
Yeah, this all seems very likely especially after seeing this concept. Awesome!
Check it out . .
http://bluemintstudios.com/blog/2009/06/brand-new-mactouch-3d-concept/
How about this market… Schools. Schoolbooks as we know them today will disappear. All the pages of the schoolbooks will be stored on the tablet. Kids will carry a tablet from class to class instead of a stack of books.
Same basic concept will work in hospitals also. Patients files will be on the tablets doctors & nurses carry.
iTablet+iPhone OS=Hardware Waste