TUAW Watercooler: Apple's next big thing

The internal email list for all the TUAW bloggers is a busy place. Some of the best conversations from the list, including musings, rants and raves, don't ever appear on the site. Today we wanted to give you a taste of one of those conversations, about Apple's 'next big thing.'

There has been plenty of discussion lately about Apple's next category-defining product. For months, I've dismissed tablet rumors. I know that Windows-based tablets are plentiful, but I've never used one, and don't know what the most useful applications are. I immediately think of a guy conducting inventory in a warehouse, but I know that's only because I have no experience with these machines.

Some suggest something that's essentially a laptop inside a touch screen, much like the iMac is a computer within its display; of course, Axiotron already makes a MacBook-based tablet. I don't see the practicality. I certainly enjoy the internet and email on my iPhone, but the amount of typing I do on the iPhone is a small percentage of what I do on my MacBook Pro.

Still, I think a similar device is coming.
Apple has a history of bringing innovative, unexpected products to the market (the Macintosh, Newton, etc.). The company also has a history of presenting the best way to do something that's already been tried. The iPod wasn't the first digital music player, and the iPhone was hardly the first mobile phone. Both complete tasks in a manner that we consumers hadn't considered, and that's what makes them great.

The next big thing from Apple -- let's call it the "iDevice" for lack of something better -- will be an example of the later. Tablet PCs exist. Electronic book readers like the Kindle exist. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the iDevice is a synthesis of the two. Full color, running a variant of Mac OS X, thin and portable with a touchscreen. Not a Kindle and not a tablet, but a bit of both.

You could argue that Apple saved the music industry with iTunes and legitimized mobile phone applications with the App Store. Could it do the same for the failing newspaper industry? Our own Megan Lavey doubts it.

"The most fundamental problem with newspapers [is] that there now just isn't the staff at papers to support generating content for a device like this. Plus, while the big three (NYT, WSJ and USA Today) may jump quickly on board this new Kindle, the local level newspapers are far, far behind this. Layoffs and lack of retention have grown to such a point that you have a basic skeleton staff to put out most papers.

A device like this would work if implementing the distribution of articles was made extremely simple from the newspaper end. That a copy editor (what's left of them) could press a button on a finished story and it's automatically there on the device. The device must be simple to use, yet get across content such as photography and graphics quickly without having designers completely redesign the print product."

That's a good point, so the next consideration is a move beyond newspapers. Christina Warren thinks the answer is in collegiate text books (already in the mix as part of the Kindle DX offering).

"Do textbooks, and you win. Even without a subsidy, which universities would totally sign up to do using one of the various funds made up by student fees, it would be worth the investment for most 4-year students, and a no-brainer for grad school.

I know during my extended tenure in college that I spent thousands on textbooks, often getting nothing back at trade-in. I had to deal with professors switching series every semester, making finding used books unreliable, unless I wanted to scour eBay and then wait for delivery."

Most budget-minded students would agree that textbooks are very expensive, especially considering that they're either ignored or re-sold at the end of the semester. Kindle books are potentially cheaper than their paper counterparts and a lot lighter in the backpack. As a (possibly unintended) consequence, this would limit the resale of used books, making the publishers happier, and keeping editions fresher.

So how would schools distribute these course materials? iTunes U seems like the answer to me. Access iTunes U from your iDevice and download a semester's worth of books in a minute or two. To extend the concept, Steven Sande sees the iDevice as a way for Apple to regain a lost foothold in the education market.

"If you can get the textbook publishers to agree to move their content to the platform and update it regularly, then you have a device that could literally stay with a student all the way from grade school through grad school. It would be hard to justify buying 'regular' computers if each student had a tablet they could use as a textbook, a reference tool, and more."

Now, consider the above features on a device with a color touch screen that also has your photos and music, maybe even a few fun apps, and ubiquitous connectivity. Also notice that Apple's keyboards have been getting smaller and thinner lately. The Bluetooth model without the number pad would be a perfect companion.

Where do I pay?

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The internal email list for all the TUAW bloggers is a busy place. Some of the best conversations from the list, including musings, rants...

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samfish

So long as I can use this thing to draw on and export the finished art to my computer, I'm sold.

That's the only reason I'm at all interested in a tablet device.

May 08 2009 at 12:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

slc flash guy

I don't see why Apple couldn't get at least 8 hours of battery life from a 8-10" tablet type device. With no optical drive they will have a ton of space for a non-removable battery using the new battery technology in the 17" MacBook Pro (which also gets 8 hours).

I'd like to hear ideas on whether they could add Mini DisplayPort to this so you could use it to stream video from other Macs (or a central server) to a TV. Something like that might replace the Mac Mini hooked up to my TV (althought I doubt they'd want it to cannibalize AppleTV sales).

May 07 2009 at 11:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Christopher Miller

I think that one thing they would want to be sure of, if they bring out a multi-touch pad, is that you would be able to touch-type on it (unlike the finger-pecking you have to do with the iPhone and iPod Touch). The old multi-touch keyboard patents published last year pointed to this kind of thing, with several alternatives for tactile feedback while keeping the screen smooth when needed for more general multitouch gesture input.

If you can do this and combine it with the (probably by then expanded) multi-touch repertoire, motion and gravity sensors etc., there is a universe of possibilities that go beyond what you can do with the small screen of the current iPhone OS devices. I'm pretty optimistic they have taken to heart that developers are ready to take what Apple offers in unexpected and often groundbreaking directions. I, for one, am working on something for the iPhone and iPod touch that will be groundbreaking enough for the market it is aimed at, giving them something that could never be done in such a useful and productive way before the iPhone came out, but a multi-touch pad with a larger screen would open up a whole universe of other possibilities for my target market, so much that it could replace desktops or laptops for this group.

May 07 2009 at 7:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Brad

If you could use a Wacom style stylus pen with it and it had a fairly color accurate screen, it would be a great portable image retouching machine. Good for freelancers, photographers and artists etc...
A slide out keyboard would be nice too.

May 07 2009 at 5:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Randall Kelley

Now think about this. Leave it as powerful as the Air (how small would that be with no keyboard) add a couple of card reader slots... Best travel computer ever.

May 07 2009 at 4:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Roms

Alright, I can see i'm not the only one with fantasies about an "iTablet" :D
Mine came after trying out Looptastic on iPhone (video here : http://www.soundtrends.com/Looptastic.html).

It's a little toy too easily make "pro sounding" music by using pre-made samples, in the ways of "eJay" (for those who remember that one ;)) except that here, you're playing live.. thanks to the magic of the multi-touch.
So in this case, it's just a game.. but with a bigger screen multitouch device... my-oh-my... I can picture a full featured Logic (or at least something paired with Logic or other DAWs) with live interactions like mixing, effects, recording, sampling, playing and virtually anything you want...

It would work great for graphists too with a stylus support and a photoshop -like software on it... It would be just like drawing on paper... but with all the extra possibilities of the electronics.

So the iTablet of my dream is basically a bigger iPod touch with :
- an oled screen for battery's sake.
- a pimped up iPhone OS X (ie iPhone OS 3.0 with multi processes?)
- a stylus support for hand writting, drawing... (w/ hand writting recognition?? :D)
- a higher price than traditional netbooks, maybe same range as iMacs, as the device would be aimed at the pros, and enthusiastic geeks who won't watch the money they got to spend for a neeeeaaat toy like this :D

Just my 2 cts ^^

May 07 2009 at 4:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan

Wow really? The best use anyone can think of for a Mac tablet is taking notes, using it in a warehouse, or using it as a Kindle? Macs for the longest time have been the definitive tool in the design industry. I know TONS of artists who would invest in a portable digital sketchbook. Programs such as Z-Brush, Alias Sketchbook, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, and anything else that benefits from the use of a Wacom Tablet, would instantaneously become MUCH more portable on a tablet. There is a HUGE market for a Mac product like this amongst designers.

May 07 2009 at 3:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nirgal

If Apple's "iDevice" uses the same glossy screen as current iMacs and MacBooks, it will be worthless as a Kindle-like reader. Viewing a page on a Kindle is nearly indistinguishable from looking at a page in a book. No glare, no eye fatigue.

May 07 2009 at 3:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SIP

I've just read the specs and watched the video on the Kindle DX and I'm pee'd-off that the DX won't be available until the summer, and who knows whether it will even make it to the UK?

I would buy one today just to read all my PDF-format books and documents on it. As an Apple user of 20+ years with 7 Macs, 2 iPhones, 1 iPod Touch and various flavours of iPods, I just can't be bothered waiting for Apple to produce something similar or better than the Kindle.

May 07 2009 at 3:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Trish Mulvihill

I would get the Axiotron but it's crazy expensive. I'm a comic book colorist and have been itching to have a decent-sized portable tablet for work while on the road. I realize that Apple may only introduce a small basic model at first, but a girl can dream....

May 07 2009 at 3:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply