Munster: Apple suppliers negotiating parts deals for sub-$700 tablet

The following is from http://Appledoozy.com

The $799.00 Apple Mac Tablet Computer

Lets start with the form factor and capabilities of the iPhone/iPod touch.

Then make it large enough so that it has a 7 to 9 inch screen, when laying flat.

Add full snow leopard compatibility.

Endow it with features such as, turn by turn voice gps, the ability to draw, paint and take notes on the tablet. Give it optional capabilities to receive cell phone, voice and data, with optional separate reasonably priced plans.

Add in WIFI and upgraded digital video and still camera capabilities.
(Available optional additional lenses (DSLR features) would make it even better.) Give it comfortable e-book reading features.

Make it foldable like a laptop with no less than 128 GB memory.

However, as I conceive it, the screen would fold for a smaller foot print, for comfortable transportation, and then unfold for full size use. (I read recently that folding screen technology exists.)

Could Apple build one device with all those features, probably.

Most of the technology has been on the market for a while, but no one, or at least no well known, capable company, has put anything like this on the market.

Could Apple build this so that it makes an acceptable profit at a $799.00 selling price?

I don't know.

I understand that the cost of many components have been lowered in price and the economy of scale may help.

Would Apple want to build this?

I can dream can't I?

It would certainly be a new product category.

The question remains, if Apple decides to build something like this, how close can it come to these specs, and when?

If you like the above idea, please let your friends and Apple know of your interest.

To me, this would be the ultimate laptop/tablet/etc device for Apple to develop;
http://tommasogecchelin.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/macbook-touch/

I would love to see a larger "iPhone" / tablet from Apple. I would definitely buy it.

After reading multiple comments on this on varying sites I'm beginning to think of a hybrid of the iPhone's multi-touch OS and the tried and true Mac OS. How about a laptop that has a 12" screen (or 10", why not?) but the bottom, where the keyboard and trackpad are, is a multi-touch surface. Maybe glass like the unibody laptops. The keyboard part will react to touch and become a keyboard otherwise it'll be a giant track pad. It wont be all that powerful but would be an Apple's answer to the netbook. With that said, I'm convinced though that netbooks are popular because of price, not size. If they were over $500 people would buy a regular laptop, especially if they want a PC. Apple needs to convince every one that their netbook is worth the money.

The net book market has shown that there is a market for under $500 computers that are medium sized (7-10 inch) vs the ultra portable (iphone sized).

There is still a lot of paper that is lugged around because the alternative is to pan and scan on a laptop or look at a postage stamp size window on a phone.

Take the MBA, get rid of the keyboard, replace the screen with a full blown touch screen, and use the iPhone OS or simple finder.
This gives you 90% of what people want and uses existing technology in a more interesting way (something I always felt Apple does better than most).

It would already have wi-fi, bluetooth(listen to music or for those who really want a keyboard) and a decent battery. Throw on some extra USB ports and/or SD card reader and you have a "info-pad" that could carry all of your electronic docs (converted to PDF- a native iPhone and Mac OS X format) and papers as scans in the size of a letter size pad with cover.

Add mobileme and you have all of your info in the cloud. Apple could also continue adding to iTunes to sync the info from your main comp to your info-pad.

Oh yeah one last thing. Have GSM on board with a SIM slot for international sales but include CDMA to sell the cellular version through Verizon for total mobile broadband access.

Course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I would love to see a larger "iPhone" / tablet from Apple. I would definitely buy it.

Apple have a very lean, highly specialised product line, each device with its own clearly-delineated market space. So whilst this would appear to fit into the line size-wise, I've heard very little talk of who this tablet would be for or what the point of it is. For a ridiculously portable computer I've got an iPhone, then a laptop, then an iMac/Mac Pro if you need more power etc without portability - so what and who would this be for?

I think it will happen. They will release snow leopard on it, to make it more efficient. Remember what apple said we don't ship junk. So when Snow leopard is final, i believe their netbook will appear.

Apple won't do a net book as we know them today, but will redfine it and set the standard like they did with the iPhone / AppStore. Of course it won't replace a laptop, but it will surf the net, serve as a larger display for photos on the go, an make mobile email / blogging easier than on an iPhone. This will happen & I will buy at least one on day one.

Talking about a generic tablet is insane as the form factor depends on the use case and no one has articulated one.

I can see an e-book reader, but then that is what we should be talking about. A general purpose tablet is neither fish nor fowl, and I seriously doubt Apple would put something out without thinking about every use case scenario, UI and the interaction design.