Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Features
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.
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).
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.
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?
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.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."
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."
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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SD said 12:14PM on 5-07-2009
I'd be in line for the iDevice/iPad/MediaPad once it comes out as long as I don't feel like Apple's charging too much for it. The way I look at it, a device with a 7" or 8" display should be in the $599 range. Anything more and I would just think the $999 White MacBook would be a better buy since it would be running full on OS X rather than the scaled down version on the iTouch/iPhone.
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Ryan Stone said 12:17PM on 5-07-2009
As a student I'd use the iDevice for a few things. I'm a photojournalist so the Kindle is a moot point for me. I will not view the amazing photography of others on a BW screen. Plus if I'm reading a newspaper I want the photos in color. Second as a student I want my textbooks in a portable small form. No more lugging a laptop and camera...now just a tiny portable device and camera. Finally I love comics. I want my comics on my portable device. It's no fun on a computer screen but a tablet absolutely it'd be fun. So the iDevice can be great, it can be my comic book reader, textbook device, and newspaper device. Well worth $400 in my opinion. I'll spring for one when it comes out.
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Vamsi Kaliki said 12:18PM on 5-07-2009
I am an undergraduate college student. I use my Lifebook tablet every day. I write my Organic Chemistry with the pen. Then convert it to type notes in physiology. I have a couple classes that released digital copies for their text books. (the profs were the authors). much cheaper and very nice to have on my tablet. The idea of a apple product designed around the student is nice, but the considering the price of current tablets, it would be interesting to see where apple's price point comes in.
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JoshK said 12:19PM on 5-07-2009
"Some of the best conversations from the list, including musings, rants and raves, don't ever appear on the site."
Why would your best stuff not make the site?
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L3 said 12:42PM on 5-07-2009
The Graham-Leech Bliley Act, obviously.
Michael Rose said 1:07PM on 5-07-2009
"best conversations" not best stuff. Long ago, we used to publish verbatim IM chats on TUAW...
We'll try to bring more of the inside conversations to light.
hmlong said 12:23PM on 5-07-2009
An oversized iPod Touch with a 5" or 6" color high-resolution lower-power OLED screen would fit the bill perfectly. Still small enough to slide in most pockets, big enough to make Kindle Reader/Sanza a pleasure to use, and not so big you might as well carry a MacBook.
Add music, TV & movie playback, games, apps, and use the dock connector so all of those new hardware add-on's actually add-on, at least 8 hours of heavy battery use, and Apple would have a hand's down winner.
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Doug McIntosh said 5:50AM on 5-11-2009
Although an OLED screen would be a nearly ideal tablet display, because they are incredibly low-power, and incredibly easy to read (due to OLED's inherent high contrast-ratio and lambertian (omnidirectional) light-source properties), I wonder about one UI element in particular that would run afoul of OLED's well-known "burn-in" problem: The menu bar.
Until someone gets OLED "phosphors" (particularly the blue ones) to have half-lives of > 14k hours, any static UI elements, like the trademark Menu Bar, will have to be removed from the OS.
Other than that (and wretchedly high cost!), it's a great idea! I'd LOVE an OS X-based OLED tablet!!!
Perhaps Samsung will come to the rescue; they seem to be pushing some sort of new color "LED" display technology for TVs...
rngeek said 12:28PM on 5-07-2009
Don't forget on the text book market if you made it so that you could buy textbooks by the chapter. This could change the way textbook publishers update and sell their products. If for instance the publisher only wanted to update the chapter in a book with more current or accurate information that could sell this one chapter to the education market for much less than buying a new text book. With the success of the App store and iTunes in general this could be the next big thing for Apple.
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mabhatter said 1:07PM on 5-07-2009
not re-buy the whole book... that will never happen.
In fact I'd predict that e-textbooks would actually slow down the pace of new editions since the publishers won't have to deal with a used market anymore. We'd probably end up with "point" versions of e-books like software. Where each year the book was updated with errata, but of course you'd still have to BUY the book each time to get updates.
Gazoobee said 12:33PM on 5-07-2009
I had a thought about this purported new device that I haven't heard anywhere else so I guess I'll share it.
What if this new device operated more like the (purported) "video" iPhone but with written material instead of video?
By that I mean that almost all analysis of the tablet device treat it the same as the iPhone, as a device meant for the consumption and display of content. I think this is likely, but what if it also allowed me to *upload* content? What if I could write a book on one of these things, save it as a PDF and upload it to an app-store-like virtual *bookstore*? All of a sudden, it's a much more interesting proposition.
Instead of going to the ageing Amazon.com and buying an overpriced "best seller" from them because of all their hooks into the dying print publishing industry, I can instead download the latest thoughts and ideas of people I am following or interested in. I can also publish my own books with practically zero hassle, which would destroy the stranglehold monopoly the publishers have on the book industry.
Anyone who has tried to get a book published in the last ten years or so will tell you that it's virtually impossible to get a publisher to look at your work nowadays because of the huge inherent costs of the first run. If you self-publish, the only distribution method you can be assured of is the internet (and good luck with that), because the distributors are locked up tighter than the publishers in that regard.
Such an "iBook" or "iTablet" could revolutionise book publishing in the same way that the mobile app store revolutionised software distribution.
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Schell said 12:41PM on 5-07-2009
Sounds great. But what are you going to do when you have to read something then type a report or paper on it? I give you an hour on the touchscreen keyboard before you'd be back at the laptop or the desktop or at the sink soaking your hands in warm water to get the cramps out.
There is nothing beneficial about lugging around a computer if the keyboard is something I cannot use comfortably. Think about the ergonomics!
Attach a wireless keyboard? Thanks. You just invented the laptop.
Apple would be smart, I think, to make something more than what would amount to a giant itouch.
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Odineye said 11:20PM on 5-07-2009
Actually, I can very much see a device that is very much like a large touch that has an angle stand and can be paired with Apple's small Bluetooth keyboard.
Much of the time you could hold it like a book - reading and surfing - but you can still type on it like a laptop when you need to. This is a best of both worlds type of solution.
L3 said 12:43PM on 5-07-2009
"Think about the ergonomics?"
"Think about the CHILDREN!!!"
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Josh said 12:58PM on 5-07-2009
As a math teacher, I have used a PC tablet and loved it. I can connect directly into a projector and have an instant e-whiteboard. I can save work, copy and paste problems, etc.; and I can send the on-board notes to students who were absent. Furthermore, since I can write directly on my tablet, I can face the students, interacting with them, while I write on my tablet - that's much more difficult when writing on a traditional white/blackboard (although it is possible with the old-fashioned overhead projectors).
I would love to have a Mac that does the same thing (and more). Here's what I would ask for:
- 10-inch screen
- Tablet (with stylus input)
- Multi-touch finger input
- Bluetooth keyboard and mouse input
- Audio and video in/outputs
- 2 or more USB ports (but we'd probably only get one)
- 8-hour battery life (is that too much to ask?)
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mabhatter said 1:19PM on 5-07-2009
and I'd say your 8 hour requirement is why this will never be a netbook. But for an iPhone/Touch it will be perfect. Remember making a 10 inch screen doesn't require more "electronics" than the normal iPhone (of which the electronics that make it "go" equal about a 25 cent pack of gum, the rest is screen and battery) Use all the available space to pack in a super-giant battery to get 8 hours of useful life.
The Touch already has Wi-Fi and bluetooth will be enabled in V3.0.
There are "stylus-like" inputs for iphone already. Multi-touch is a big possibility Apple really likes.
There is already the "button headphones" that have controls + headphone and mic inputs available. eventually Apple will get all their devices the SAME!!! (hint hint)
Things like USB input and video in will never happen. Even Macs don't have that. The best we could hope for on a 10" Touch would be a really good webcam for pictures and video chat.
But like others have said, it would plug in to both Apple's existing iTunes model and to things like Amazon's Kindle, making it 100% useful right now, and making some parts available to iphone, smaller Touch users.
lagwolf said 1:07PM on 5-07-2009
I really hope they get on with it. My mother is obsessed with one of these. For my part, I am looking forward to seeing Apple completely re-invent the netbook/i-net tablet. Someone people describe it as a very large Touch...that would work nicely thanks.
Lets's hope Apple does the pricing right.
And...what Josh said...you listening Apple?
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Doug Cook said 1:11PM on 5-07-2009
I always enjoy the ideas you folks throw out there. I think a device like this could be really wonderful. I think one of the things that Apple does best is making their technology personal and simple. If they could bring that to a hybrid tablet,e-reader device I think people would gobble it up, maybe even help to bring reading writing back in to vogue. Hauling a laptop everywhere is often difficult and the iPhone isn't meant for document use.
Here's hoping......
,Doug
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NoAndThen said 1:34PM on 5-07-2009
Yeah, I'm down with a tablet that is just the top half of the unibody macbooks running full osx with an iphone-esque keyboard built into os x. I also want the ability to switch over to a simple UI like the iphone on a big scale for when I don't need a full computer.
I would NOT buy the very first iTablet or whatever, I'd buy rev2. Unless it turns out to be as solid as the iPhone after a few months.
Really all I want is for them to put capacitive touch on the glass screens of the next unibody macbooks. Damn I want that.
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smak said 2:01PM on 5-07-2009
THERE WILL BE NO "MAC TABLET". STOP.
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