Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone
A Mac tablet? Not just yes, but 'heck yes'
Apple's Q3 Financial call may or may not have pointed to a new Mac tablet offering but that doesn't really matter. The Mac tablet isn't a rumor any more, Robert. It's right here sitting in my pocket. If the iPhone isn't a Mac tablet, I don't know what is. It runs OS X. It has a full touch interface. OS X + touch == Mac tablet, any way you look at it. The computing world is changing. We're no longer tied to desktops. We move around, we take our computing with us. Holding a computer in the crook of our arms isn't just a nice idea, it's practical. When you're walking through hospital halls, sitting in on a University lecture, attending business meetings, or specing out a project at a construction site, the tablet computer makes sense. If anything, the iPhone which has been pushed far beyond its original design specs, has proven that people want truly mobile computing. No keyboard, no standard screen -- true portability.
And it's not just about people who spend their lives away from their desks. Drawing directly on a screen beats the heck out of drawing on a Wacom tablet. Tablet computing brings the artist directly to the canvas. And it doesn't stop at drawing. How do traditional laptops and computer screens integrate meaningfully in any way into creating music. Sure, we're used to the standard tools but isn't a piano keyboard or a guitar a more natural interface into music? Let musicians jot notes into a portable tablet rather than figuring out how to keep moving between instrument and computer keyboard.
Cell phones and tablet computers are all about freeing ourselves. Sure you can bring a laptop on a camping trip or into the grocery store -- but an iPhone or a small tablet mac work much better on the go. So, say "Yes" to tablets. In fact, say "Heck Yes". Because we don't have to wait for Apple to deliver one any more. iPhone and App Store already have.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
HLeibov said 12:35PM on 7-23-2008
You tell 'em Erica!!
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d said 12:37PM on 7-23-2008
POLL TIME!
Who do you agree with?
Heck Yes - 1
Heck No - 0
Copy the score in each comment, and add one to your vote. Maybe TUAW will make this an official pole.
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Street Trees said 1:57PM on 7-23-2008
Totally agree on all counts. I think about these kinds of things when I'm using my MacBook on a city bus here in Portland. Yes, I can get by with it, but the grocery store scenario also resonates. It might push me toward buying the iPhone.
http://www.filterra.com/street-trees
robogobo said 12:39PM on 7-23-2008
um, what the?
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Tom W Browning said 12:40PM on 7-23-2008
Sigh. Why is THIS the best Apple blog out there..?
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ZeroCorpse said 5:47PM on 7-23-2008
Oh! I get it! That was an oh-so-subtle way to sling an underhanded insult at Erica.
Yeah. You're so cool. I bet your blog is so much better.
Tom W Browning said 6:39PM on 7-23-2008
It's an underhand comment at the entire Apple-oriented blogsphere. I don't have a blog.
EclipseEmpire said 12:45PM on 7-23-2008
Preach On Sister!
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michas_pi said 12:48PM on 7-23-2008
I support this post and I thoroughly concur with Erica.
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Tim said 12:49PM on 7-23-2008
Cell phones and tablet computers are all about freeing ourselves. [...] Because we don't have to wait for Apple to deliver one any more. iPhone and App Store already have.
You have an odd definition of freedom if you're including the iPhone and the app store in this discussion, considering the almost pathological control that Apple is exercising. Certain applications will never be available there. Fortunately, the Jailbreaking crew is giving us true freedom, but no thanks to Apple.
That said, I agree with your overall point, that the future is in mobility. I just wish Apple would empower the users and developers a bit more. If they don't, others will.
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Tom W Browning said 12:50PM on 7-23-2008
I agree. It took the dev team to go out and invent the iPhone for themselves, so they had something to put all their second rate, hackish crap on. No thanks to Apple.
Tomahawk said 12:50PM on 7-23-2008
I have to agree you, I think the iPhone is the only tablet system coming out of Cupertino. I just wish that someone would coming out with some sort of docking station for the iPhone that I could use to hook up a bigger display....maybe something like Apple used during their keynote demonstrations.
If you had something like that, and then maybe you had support for a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, then you could truely throw your computer into your pocket when you left for the day, and then place back on you desk at work when you return. And now that they have Mocha VNC in the App Store, you could connect back to any other computer in the world and access it from your iPhone.
SO Heck Yes +1
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Jerry said 1:02PM on 7-23-2008
Erica!!! Erica!!! Erica!!!
Yeahhhh boyyyyy!!!!!(girl)
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John said 1:02PM on 7-23-2008
Am I the only one who wonders why the link with the text "Robert" points to a google search for "jane you ignorant slut"?
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rob said 1:12PM on 7-23-2008
you might not be old enough to remember dan ackroyd and jane curtin's "point-counterpoint" sketch on saturday night live, way back when... like 35 years ago or something :)
Kev Orng said 3:55PM on 7-23-2008
I'd tell you to Google it... except that somebody has already Googled it for you!!! Holy crap, all you had to do was click and find out! Wouldn't that have been easier than typing out a comment? :)
John said 4:08PM on 7-23-2008
You'll have to forgive me for being a 23yr old foreigner that doesn't see the point in clicking on links to unconnected abusive google searches.
newyorkrebel said 1:03PM on 7-23-2008
True, iPhone may be a 'Mac tablet,' but it's a stripped down version of a true tablet, at best.
Much as I love my iPhone, it does NOT allow me to perform simple, vital, everyday tasks like drafting a letter in Word or Pages format, saving it, editing it, then e-mailing.
And that lack of capability makes the iPhone a poor substitute for a true Mac tablet.
iPhone has the capability to do everything we need it to do. When is Apple finally going to take the handcuffs off and let the iPhone be a true and complete 'Mac tablet' and pda/laptop killer?
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thesimplicity said 3:59PM on 7-23-2008
I agree completely. The iPhone isn't capable of performing half the tasks I'd desire from a tablet. Unless there's some sort of Creative Suite iPhone Edition I'm not aware of.
Smrt said 4:04PM on 7-23-2008
I agree, newyork. While the iPhone has the potential to be a Mac Tablet, there is still so many improvements needed to make it a decent Mac Tablet. The keyboard is also holding it back. The screen is too small to use the keybaord with ease. While it doesn't bother me too much, it would need to be improved to make it a Mac Tablet.