We’ve got this from three independent sources close to Apple: expect a large screen iPod touch device to be released in the Fall of ‘09, with a 7 or 9 inch screen. Prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources, and Apple is talking to OEMs in Asia now about mass production.
Apple has been experimenting internally with large form tablet devices for years, one source says, but there was concern that users wouldn’t like the device. The difference now is the iTunes app store, which has thousands of games and other applications that are perfect for a touch screen device with an accelerometer. Apple says more than 300 million applications have been downloaded since the App Store launched in July 2008. Combine the App Store, iTunes and a browser and you have one heck of a device.
We don’t have any information on pricing. The current iPod touch, with a 3.5 inch screen, starts at $229. The 32 GB model is $399. We expect the price on the larger iPod touch to be significantly higher.
Apple rumors, particularly Apple tablet rumors, tend to come and go. I’m not saying Apple is definitely launching a large form iPod Touch. But sources I trust are saying they are currently planning to, and one source has actually held the device.
There have been +SCADS+ of Amazon Kindle’s sold in the past six months.
Apple should have OWNED that market, but remember…according to Steve Jobs, “no one reads anymore…”
Well, maybe no one in Cupertino, but the rest of the world has more than Stevie Wonder on their iPods, and are snapping up Kindle’s faster than they can make and ship them.
The Kindle is TERRIBLE piece of hardware, every time I hold mine, I bemoan the fact that this isn’t designed “by Apple in California, Built in China with slave labor.”
But it FUNCTIONALLY does what literate people want. Books cost $10 and you can wirelessly have them delivered to your Kindle in under 5 min, same with newspaper subscriptions, and magazines too.
I imagine this is what Steve Jobs meant when he talked of Apple not knowing how to make a $400 laptop that’s not a piece of junk. I think what he meant was, Apple can just take an already best-selling product (ipod touch in this case), enlarge it from 3.5’ to 9’ and voila - who the hell needs anything else?
As long as you’ve made it bigger could you go on and put my phone in it while you’ve got your wand out?
This is what I keep calling the iPhone Maxi that I halfway expect Steve to pull out of his pocket as “the one more thing” part of the show next week. There have been more than a few references to this in the past year around the web. Makes a lot more sense to me than an iPhone nano.
WE have been waiting for this for quite some time.
I don’t think it will come out this year because of the economy. Also it must be a device that can run more than just Apps. Therefore it will need touch screen programs such as Word, and the iLife suite.
Not to give support to product rumors, but Apple will eventually answer the netbook proliferation with a specific-function device. I suspect a device that nicely allows users to access the Web, read and compose e-mails and integrates well with MobileMe with a screen larger than what the iPhone and iPod touch currently offer.
I don’t see a need to run iLife apps. I do see a need for a device that impressively handles games and other iPhone apps. It would replace the need for a netbook and would much easier to carry than a laptop.
I think the probability is VERY HIGH that a netbook launch happens in 2009. The Kindle is sticking its fugly neck out, waiting for Apple to right-cross it on its kisser. And I have no doubt it will, except Apple’s entry will be much more capable than the Kindle. The Kindle will become the Zune of Mp3 players.
There have been +SCADS+ of Amazon Kindle’s sold in the past six months.
Apple should have OWNED that market, but remember…according to Steve Jobs, “no one reads anymore…”
Well, maybe no one in Cupertino, but the rest of the world has more than Stevie Wonder on their iPods, and are snapping up Kindle’s faster than they can make and ship them.
The Kindle is TERRIBLE piece of hardware, every time I hold mine, I bemoan the fact that this isn’t designed “by Apple in California, Built in China with slave labor.”
But it FUNCTIONALLY does what literate people want. Books cost $10 and you can wirelessly have them delivered to your Kindle in under 5 min, same with newspaper subscriptions, and magazines too.
I gotta say Tan, you have a really interesting love/hate relationship with Apple! There is a really good chance Apple does already own this space. Shakespeare’s collective works has been downloaded more than 300,000 times in the past year. There is also this….
FINDING READERS ON ITUNES
Authors are turning to iTunes to get discovered by readers who might later pay for material. Author Matt McHugh, for instance, used e-book software maker TouchBooks Reader to create a free, iPhone version of his book, Scrooge & Cratchit. “The market is already splitting in two directions: the blockbusters and the indie or niche authors,” says Alex Brie, developer of TouchBooks. “The App Store Books section will always be a great place for authors or editors to promote their work through branded or freely downloadable e-books.”
I think the probability is VERY HIGH that a netbook launch happens in 2009. The Kindle is sticking its fugly neck out, waiting for Apple to right-cross it on its kisser. And I have no doubt it will, except Apple’s entry will be much more capable than the Kindle. The Kindle will become the Zune of Mp3 players.
R U IGNORING….
What made the iPod #1 ?
CONTENT
Kindle has Amazon behind it, Amazon has the CONTENT NAILED.
Shame the two of them won’t collaborate.
I have wanted TiVo to dance with AAPL,and/or Netflix to do a shotgun wedding, but AAPL is so arrogant they can’t do the merger thing, and I honestly believe they have a FAR TOO limited product range for the money they have squirreled away essentially eroding and gathering moth and dust.
Kindle has Amazon behind it, Amazon has the CONTENT NAILED.
Shame the two of them won’t collaborate.
I have wanted TiVo to dance with AAPL,and/or Netflix to do a shotgun wedding, but AAPL is so arrogant they can’t do the merger thing, and I honestly believe they have a FAR TOO limited product range for the money they have squirreled away essentially eroding and gathering moth and dust.
I envision the MacTouch” possessing the advantage of featuring book content AND all the other goodness of OSX, iTunes content, and other applications. Amazon is unlikely to drop audiobook sales to iTunes. I just don’t see the Kindle competing with the feature-set and capabilities that Apple is uniquely positioned to design and build.
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There is a really good chance Apple does already own this space. Shakespeare’s collective works has been downloaded more than 300,000 times in the past year. There is also this….
, iPad, MacBook touch 
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