“Feverish speculation all over the internet, gadget shoppers nearing mass hysteria and pundits predicting our lives will never be the same. It must mean that an Apple product launch is on the way,” David Smith reports for The Observer.
“The company that makes the Mac computer, iPod music player and iPhone is reportedly poised to launch a tablet computer – small enough to carry in a handbag or briefcase but big enough to comfortably surf the web, read newspapers and watch films. It could be Apple’s latest billion-dollar jackpot,” Smith reports. “‘The Apple magic is great technology and great marketing,’ said Leander Kahney, a blogger and author of The Cult of Mac. ‘We’ve seen it with the iPod, the iPhone and, before that, the Mac. That’s why this is so exciting.’ He added: ‘They’ve been working on this for the past six years. People expect it to be the ultimate Apple surprise. This thing will knock people’s socks off.'”
Smith reports, “Famously secretive, Apple has refused to comment on the tablet speculation. But Tim Cook, its chief operating officer, recently hinted that the company was working on something ‘very innovative.’ Jobs – now back at work after a six-month leave of absence following a liver transplant – is thought to have been personally involved in the development of the device over the past two years.”
Smith reports, “Kahney said: ‘Apple will totally rejig the computing experience. You won’t manipulate a keyboard and mouse any more but rather use an intuitive touchscreen. It will very tactile. It will be a whole new paradigm.'”
More in the full article here.
Can you say paradigm shift?
“People expect it to be the ultimate Apple surprise…”
Who will be surprised? Those who ate living under rocks?
It seems that everyone already “knows” about it before it’s even been announced.
Well, I suppose the Microsofts and Dells of the world will be caught off guard.
I think the iphone and app store just set the bases for what it is about to come. It is true when years ago SJ said public wasn’t ready for the tablet, but I think, he may meant that the bases for such a device wasn’t built. Now it is. At this point, MS and the rest won’t be able to copy it, because nobody else have what apple has built so far. I think apple is about to change the way people use computers, obviously it will not happened overnight, but the new device will be the beginning for the shift on what we know up to today about computers, just like iphone did for what was called smartphone until iphone arrived. If they expended 6 years on this, I do not think their vision is limited to a tablet device only, I think the tablet device will open the door for many other changes. At this point I do not know if other companies even imagine the big deal this tablet will be, I hope they know, for their sake I hope they aren’t that blind as they were with iphone.
Maybe we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t happen..??
I can’t wait for the pundits and analysts to crucify Apple for “failing” to deliver on non-existent tablet computers when the real failure is the based-on-nothing pie-in-the-sky speculative analysis.
Well, the way I see it, it already happened, with the ipodtouch. The touch is like a pc, but limited in many things due it’s size, just like netbook are computers, but limited. Now it has sold a lot of copies, and is not for a niche. I bought mine not only for the music, but used it as an agenda, and there is no device in the market that can do what the ipodTouch does, without getting in the phone market. So I think that a tablet device is a matter of time, and yes I agree that if nothing is release this year, media will be all over. Now apple has proved that they are the ones that set the time for release, regardless of what media think or say.
“Ate living under rocks?”
D’oh!!!
“‘The Apple magic is great technology and great marketing,'”
BS. Apple’s magic is making incredibly complicated technology amazingly simple. Just look at Back To My Mac.
Oh yeah. That was my first ever MDN post from my iPhone. And this is my second.
Will it come in maroon?
When MS copy the Apple tablet it will be available in Brown…
What gets me is how many people love the Kindle but can’t see a place for the iPad (or whatever this week’s name is). I hate single-function devices and that’s what a Kindle is and (to a lesser extent) other smartphones are.
Stanza and Safari on a larger screen, along with some/all of the other apps? Priceless!
One thing I can almost guarantee about any Apple tablet device, it will work a certain way and work very well, but loads of people will moan that it isn’t as powerful as a regular computer and doesn’t do everything under the sun, replacing every other computing device in the world, despite the fact that if it did it would be heavy, hot, battery draining and of no use to 99% of people.
“‘The Apple magic is … great marketing,’ …
‘Smith reports, “Famously secretive, Apple has refused to comment on the tablet speculation.’
So, um, which is it?
Does Apple sell their products through “great marketing”, or are they “Famously secretive” and let the products sell themselves through wonderful user experiences?
I’m trying to think of Apple’s last great marketing campaign, driving the hype and desire for products no-one would ever really want if not for the marketing. …
The fact-driven Mac and PC commercials?
Nope, just facts, delivered with humour. No hype there.
The commercials with a highly-paid celebrity cavorting with Steve Jobs?
Oh, wait. That was Bill Gates with Seinfeld. Wrong company.
Is it all the press releases, hints, teasers, and “leaks” from Apple about upcoming products?
Well … noooo, Apple doesn’t do that, because Apple is “famously secretive”.
So don’t give us this crap about Apple doing well because of their “great marketing”.
Apple’s secret:
IQHSS
It’s the Quality of the Hardware and the Software, Stupid.
@Wandering Joe
This whole rumor has only one purpose: to tank AAPL stock when such a device is NOT announced (even if something greater is annouced).
The Apple tablet if and when it exists, will be the most natural et practical tool for writing and reading. No more cables, keyboard, mouse. The idea is old, though and that’s why it is the future.
what tablet?
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Don’t call it a jackpot; a lot of hard work is involved in Apple’s products.
The future is in the CLOUD
the new data center Apple is building will serve the functionality that will be introduced over time for devices like this. Instead of enormous hard drives and other pointless anchors it’s about on the spot processing, throughput, and data exchange. It’s about productivity and the ability to instantly get, give and share.
It’s about ease of use, beauty, functionality, simplicity, elegance, and above all value.
the things that drive Apple are all easy to understand and it’s easy to see that Steve has had to constantly guide his engineers and others to more closely conform to those precepts. This next device will likely be his crowning achievement since it will at last free people from the encumbrances of wires, moving parts, and storage peripherals. Oh…this is the future alright…brought you personally by Steve Jobs
Thanks Steve….
@LeeSweet
Also, why is the Kindle #1 selling device forever at Amazon top seller? I thinks that rating is BS there.
Wow, there is a TON of pressure from the press all around for a device that no one knows even exits for sure, much less what it is and what it does.
I have a bad feeling that no matter what rabbit Apple pulls out of their hat, people will spout disappointment since it doesn’t do everything, including wash the family dog.
Geez, folks, I know you have to sell papers (and/or get web hits), but let Apple actually make an announcement before you say the whole world’s gonna change!
o man, read the comments in the linked article. major flame war going on!
Vacuous, unsubstantiated hype over an imaginary product.
I guess these MDN ‘tablet’ posts are useful at pointing out how people can go maniacal over nothing-at-all. Sad kids. Very sad.
And no. I still have no need for any tablet. I also see only a minor niche for such a product. Good luck there with your ‘paradigm shift’. It all sounds Zune to me.
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I don’t think there is any question that Apple WILL be designing, building, and selling a “tablet” computer. There are, of course, many related questions: when, what, how much … you know, all those nitty gritty details Apple is so fond of Doing Well. And “Different”.
Will it debut next month? Next summer? A year from next month? Summer AFTER next? I have not heard of new coders being hired for a new version of the OS, maybe it will use a bulked up iPhone OS or a (further) stripped down version of the Mac OS. The design details are, obviously, open to speculation. The price may be the one area where we have a clue – it will cost more than any other “tablet”, but less than the current MacBook. Even if it becomes The New MacBook.
Apple WILL do “this”. The market is there to be re-invented. The students are there. The businessmen. The people who thought a previous model of “tablet” or “net book” would do the job they needed getting done, but were disappointed. The people who bought ‘down’ to the 13.3″ MacBook and now want something ‘lighter’. They are there. they are waiting.
WE are waiting.