"Bigger iPhone" isn't such a bold prediction. I said that soon after the iPhone launch. (And I think it would be a phone, not a Touch, because too much of the 'wow' is lost if you have to hunt for a wi-fi spot all the time.)

Tablets. Blech. Why waste the time on something that people will drop, break, and worse lose? Look around, there are several tablets on the market, yet sales are abysmal. They're NOT what they're cracked up to be and obviously not a market Apple is interested in testing the waters on. Get over it Cringely.

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Guest wrote:
Tablets. Blech...Look around, there are several tablets on the market, yet sales are abysmal. They're NOT what they're cracked up to be...

Exactly. I've known a few people who were looking at them they all ended up getting a regular laptops. The cost and fragility were enough to turn them off. The only people I've EVER met who had tablets were salesman who were trying to sell me a tablet laptop. They may be fine for particular vertical markets in a corporate environment but for most they are just silly. Apple has far better things to spend its resources on than a $@#!!& tablet.

That said what he seems to be describing is not a tablet. It is more like a Newton. That might work but I don't think it's "Key to Apple's Future".

Cringely is never right.

For me, I say "meh" when I think "tablet Mac". I mean, it would be cool, without a doubt. I don't see myself buying one if Apple DOES release one, but that wouldn[t stop me from ooh-ing and ahhh-ing over it. That said, now that Cringely has said it, expect the exact OPPOSITE to occur.

Cringely joining Bill Gates' tablet bandwagon to nowhere? If you can handwrite faster and with less effort than you can type, then the tablet is for you. For most of us a keyboard is still the most efficient way to input text.

[trolling removed]

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Guest wrote:
Tablets. Blech. Why waste the time on something that people will drop, break, and worse lose? Look around, there are several tablets on the market, yet sales are abysmal. They're NOT what they're cracked up to be and obviously not a market Apple is interested in testing the waters on. Get over it Cringely.

Isn't this what people have said of other products as well? And Apple has made them successful. One shouldn't look at what already exists, but at what one could possibly do to make a product a good one which people would want to use.
I could have good use for a very light computer with which I could write and handle and edit images, send these with e-mail and ring up the people I'm working for. Would make holidays a lot easier not having to carry a lump of several kilos extra:)

I can honestly say that I haven't really identified with any of Cringley's Silicon Valley reporting since Nerds 2.0. He does make a pretty good case for WebKit, and I see what he's saying about Apple being reluctant to adopt Flash for the time being. However, this overwhelming desire for Apple to put out a tablet Mac is something I would chalk up to an author having a hard on for a particular piece of technology, and then justifying why it should come to be.

Ok, I could see where an iTablet could be an alternative to Kindle, but did Cringley completely forget that Amazon has the infrastructure to make Kindle a success, and Apple doesn't? Besides, I don't think Jobs' #1 priority is crushing all perceived competition, inasmuch as making a better product. Kindle is a pretty fugly 1st generation piece of hardware, but the overall user experience looks pretty freakin' sweet.

My money is still on a slimmer laptop for the next major new piece of hardware. If you follow what has been said in the news and patents that have surfaced, it seems that Jobs and Apple engineers still favor that form factor.

On a side note: is anyone else glad that the mod's are laying the smack down on fake CEO's? I sure am.

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xmattingly wrote:
is anyone else glad that the mod's are laying the smack down on fake CEO's? I sure am.

Oh yeah! FSB was slightly amusing for about three minuets then just annoying.

IMO there's a difference between a Tablet PC, which has a write on screen plus a keyboard in a laptop case and something like a cross between the iPhone and Newton. I have no interest in a classic Tablet PC. I would like to see something with iPhone technology, with a bigger screen, say six inch or seven inch. Touch screen keyboard and finger dragging input. WiFi and the ability to run std OS-X and Apps. A portable for below the Macbook level. Price it at $999 and it would have a market.

But I wouldn't call it a Tablet.

Here's an idea; if Apple came up with something like I described above, one pound, 4"x8"x2" we could call it the Apple iBrick. Or would that be too ironic.

It will be great to have the iTouch in a paperback format. iTunes should be changed to feed books, magazines and newspapers. If we can insert the iPhone like a DVD drive in the paperback size iTouch then we will have a solution for mobile as well as laptop scenarios.

Interesting point- they could buy data bandwidth on cellular networks from those carriers and then repackage it as a monthly wireless data plan. Those PCMCIA aircards already give you roughly T1 speeds and are the favorites of businessmen and Winnebago warriors alike. Between that and wifi you would always be online. The biggest obstacle to miniaturization is the keyboard, so innovations like holographically-projected keyboards, voice recognition, and smart touchscreens are all very exciting if difficult to wait for. These technologies are what still separate the smartphone from the laptop. But the day that everyone is on and connected all of the time is not too far, and apple's tablet would be a bold step in that direction.

... if the "multi-touch screen" beats a wacom on precision/ pressure levels then it will have my hard earned cash! (by the thousands I presume... )

I simply cant wait for a .. 10-12 incher tablet... sub-pounder with wifi+gps+usb (True) usb ports to add things like a printer/scanner/aircard/what we want to it when needed...

make a gps software..
I'm still having to run parallel desktop with windows xp .. to have my street and trips running ... through a driver for the pharos gps360 I found on some page on some sourceforce project... it works better than anything else.. (since I already paid for Xp / streets and parrallel's. ...

the only other alternative for gps on mac is routebuddy .. 100$ + 50+ / set of maps... kinda expensive,...

so apple tablet + as good as streets and trips gps software builtin .. + voice rec and text to speach ??? ... ahhh paradise... (please stick in an isight as well... )
videochatting while photoshopping...

ok enoughsaid..