Report: Apple tablet will have PA Semi chips
The Apple rumor mill kicked into high gear again Monday regarding the much discussed, yet still mythical Apple tablet. But a significant new piece of information emerged.
Tech blog Venture Beat is reporting that PA Semi, the chip company Apple bought last year whose specific function within Apple has thus far been unclear, will be designing the chips for an Apple tablet in house. Dean Takahashi wrote Monday, "PA Semi's team was split into two parts, one designing portable ARM-based processors for iPhones and iPods, and another designing a processor for the tablet device."
The PA Semi team has some renowned chip designers, and there have been recent Wall Street Journal reports that Steve Jobs has been personally overseeing the development of a tablet-like device, and that Apple also has a large chip design project in the works. Taken together, all three reports seem to make sense.
But the round of rumors regarding the supposed tablet from earlier in the day point to an October launch time frame for the device. There's no actual evidence for that. Apple did do a Mac notebook event in October last year, and it's conceivable it could do another one, bringing out a touch-screen tablet in time for the holidays.
But October is very soon. Reports from Apple analyst Gene Munster, beginning in May, have repeatedly pinpointed a tablet launch in early 2010.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
Rumour: News at 11.
Since the iPhone and iPod touch have had wifi since the beginning, this rumored tablet would seemingly have wifi as well.
Video chat might be an option, although as an application, more people would rather have a camera that's designed for still photography and video recording on a portable device.
(crosses fingers) Okay everyone ignore this comment and the one I'm replying to. Let it sink into obscurity.
Hackers actually write far more exploits for other operating systems (mostly Windows). OS X exploits in the wild are quite rare.
If you are going to harsh on Apple, why don't you actually pick a topic where you might be able to make a credible case? For example, Apple should provide more transparency in their App Store approval process and criteria.
Your above statements might be interpreted by some as trolling for flames and don't help your case in developing an online persona that's worth listening to.
I expect a public release of the hardware in mid Winter.
Remember: You can use the past to predict the future except when you can't.
More likely, they would ship it with relatively few apps and then update their developer tools to design for the new device. Remember: the iPhone and iPod touch did not ship with many apps initially; there wasn't even a developer program for those two devices at launch. No store either.
Remember: You can use the past to predict the future except when you can't.
Perhaps it would have better to say: S/w development kits for the many. Advanced hardware release programs for the few.
No one can predict the future accurately. However, you can make some reliable estimates of the likelihood of a given scenario.
Based on everything that Apple has done (well, certainly since OS X), there is very little chance of an advance hardware release. If Apple did pass around some preview samples, it would be under strict confidentiality and under NDA. They are highly secretive. It simply isn't in their style to publicly flaunt the existence of unreleased/beta hardware.
No one knows for sure. Apple usually does not discuss unannounced products, so we probably won't know until some Apple exec gets on stage at some presentation. It's fun to speculate, but that's all it is: speculation.
The supply chain leaks/rumors can be interesting, but there are plenty of bogus leaks in addition to the ones that end up being genuine.
- by LongHairedArtist July 19, 2009 10:19 PM PDT
- Ummmmm there is a Mac Tablet. It's called the ModBook, and now there's a ModBook Pro. It's Wacom penabled and touch compatible. It's genuine apple, it uses modified mac hardware.
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(27 Comments)Just goes to show the power of Apple's brand. Put the ModBook Pro next to an iPhone and it would sell like crazy. I wish they would... However I still think it's too big. Personally I'd rather see the iBook revived as a dime novel sized tablet convertible device, twice the size of the iPhone, with a vibrating touchscreen as a keyboard, and optional second display. Imagine the touchscreen's use as a writing zone while watching a streaming lecture on the main screen, or drawing in the sub screen at a scaled size, while viewing the whole image in the main screen. I think this fits the description of a "book" better.