Comments on: Pros and cons of a touch-screen Mac tablet

A Piper Jaffray analyst says Apple might be planning on bringing a touch-screen Mac tablet to store shelves next year. But is a touch screen the best idea?

[deric_raymond]

I am not certain a tablet would "work." It is a product developed for a small niche. It is less productive than a netbook: no keyboard to type on means dealing with a virtual keyboard. I know apple's touchscreen keyboards are good, but I can still type faster on a physical one. And the reason Apple won't make a netbook is because it would undermine their entire computer lineup. Everyone would buy it because it sports the great OS for considerably less. All being said, a "really big iPod touch" is cool, people will play with it in the store and pick it up. If they can make it reasonably inexpensive, it competes with the Kindle (if Apple can have textbooks, newspapers, and other mediums on it). I fear it will fare the same fate as the Mac mini in terms of sales: a great idea, but nobody wants to spend that money on that useless a device.

[Mac User Too]

It's premature to comment (good or bad) on a device that has not been released. We don't know the form factor, the full extent of the OS' features, or if it even will be released. This is the same kind of useless (and wrong) prognostication I read prior to, and just after, the release of the iPhone. As far as the Mac Mini is concerned, I wouldn't refer to a product that has sold well over a million units 'a niche product'.

[sydney-website-design]

If Apple creates a touch-screen Mac tablet, I bet they would go for the "thinest" touch-screen Mac tablet.

[myles taylor]

Or maybe, just maybe, they're going to do something completely different that will shock everyone instead of lining up with everyone and their ideas. Apple likes to surprise people and they are being pretty tightlipped about it. The "sources" might be misdirection leaks, which not only wouldn't surprise me, but would make sense. Everything you said can be applied to every other tablet. Apple likes to take things in a new direction. Look at the iPod and iPhone.

[Norseman]

Let's see. Has anyone come out with a touch-based character recognition system--like Graffiti on the Palm? That would be a pretty slick alternative to a keyboard, but would use a finger instead of a stylus. Hmmmmmmm.

[Seaspray0]

They could put the volume control on a wireless remote. That would be something different.

[Seaspray0]

Sorry, it's just hard to think of what they could do that already hasn't been done. But given apple's past record, it will be something different. Hopefully, it will have a keyboard.

[russkeller]

My money says they're onto a sweet book reader that's going to dominate like the Ipod.

[myles taylor]

The e-book industry isn't anywhere near as lucrative as the music industry though. I'm an avid reader and I don't want an e-reader because I prefer to hold a book in my hands. I'm not the only one who feels that way either. The market just isn't vast enough for anyone to "dominate" in my opinion. Someone can dominate this niche market, but not make it mainstream like the iPod.

[hcmarks]

@myles taylor I agree with you that the ebook industry isn't as lucrative as the music industry, but devices like the Kindle and the various e-readers on the iPhone/iPod Touch are making it much more popular. Also, the prices of e-books compared to their print counterparts are enticing. I love the feel, smell, and weight of a book in my hands, but to spend $15-$25 for a new book all the time is draining on the bank account. The $9.99 price tag for most books in the Kindle store is great if you're an avid reader and want to read the latest bestseller only available in a $25 hardcover. The eventual lack of space for more books in a house or apartment also contributes to the need for something lightweight like an e-reader.

I do agree, though, that this wouldn't benefit Apple in the long run - it is a niche market and is fine for those like Sony or Amazon, but Apple needs to come out with something big to turn users on their heads. A tablet seems viable, and I think would work if they marketed it towards their original target audience - media-centric professionals. Heavy Photoshop users and graphic/web design folks who don't want to use a Wacom tablet AND a Mac could use an all-in-one device to make their lives easier. Another idea is that it would come with some sort of built-in stand so one could sit it on a desk and use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (like Apple's Bluetooth keyboard and Mighty Mouse) to type out emails or whatnot. This would help Apple push more peripherals. Throw in a lack of a CD drive and only one USB port (a la the MacBook Air) and they could sell more hubs and external CD drives.

It's all speculation at this point, but I'm excited to see what Apple has to offer.

[V3audiodesign]

Anyone heard of a library??

[Perry_Clease]

" @ myles taylor May 22, 2009 7:49 AM PDT
Or maybe, just maybe, they're going to do something completely different that will shock everyone instead of lining up with everyone and their ideas"

You are probably right.

[man_w_balls]

did you see the patent filings awhile back for a 3-dimensional OS X interface? They even have some filings that came out in the same time frame for much more advanced touch-gesture system than what the iPhone uses.
I'm guessing that if it's not a touch-tablet Mac then it may be part of that new 3D interface system. I can't wait to see how that stuff turns out.

[pcSimon]

See. People are writing about something totally unknown. I really don't know without a device before you, what can you make up those "pros and cons"?

[Ajdproductions]

I recently added a 9 inch Netbook with webcam to my business mix of desktop and laptop computers in addition to multi PDA devices. As a iMac and Macbook owner, I would strongly recommend APPLE to add BOTH a 9 or 1O inch Macbook and a 9 or 10 inch touch device like the ipod touch, from a marketing position they cannot loose. The sooner the better !

[harlanvt]

I think they will come out with a tablet and position it to replace an iPod Touch. They don't want to compete with the iPhone or with the MacBook. A tablet that is based on the iPod Touch does not diminish either of their flagship products. The iPod Touch is a bit of a problem anyway. It is not an iPhone so what exactly is it. A larger one opens up the door to people with access to a WiFi account, those with poor (e.g., elderly) vision, less dexterity, etc. Who don't want another phone.

It will open another platform to the ap store applications but not to major software vendors for the Mac (because if you could use those aps, some users would find a way to use it instead of a MacBook.

Most importantly, it would replace the iPod touch with a more expensive product, preserving Apple's success at maintaining high profit margins.

harlan

[nowimcool]

You make a very good point. And I would add, right now there is no reason for someone with an iphone to buy an ipod, and I think apple probably wants to change that.

[Norseman]

Can you put a device with a 10-inch screen in your pocket? No? Then it won't replace the iPod touch.

[bigpics]

Re: "The iPod Touch is a bit of a problem anyway. It is not an iPhone so what exactly is it."

Well......

--It's a "problem" whose sales are increasing rapidly in a very down economy...
--It's a "solution" to those of us who want a really pocketable, really real internet device without paying $100/month for embarrassingly bad cell phone coverage, particularly in the nation's largest cities. (Or who don't want our current activity shut down by an incoming call on our Verizon phones)
--and with a mic and Skype, it's a free (or nearly free) phone. Plus the rumor mills are rife with talk of giving it a camera and other improvements (like using the room for the phone electronics to stay doubled up on the iPhone's memory, e.g., a a 64 GB Touch with still zoom and video cam? What's not to like?

Whatever else Apple has up its sleeve (and this is a very complicated set of decisions for Apple), it is NOT replacing the iPod Touch.......

[ricster131]

I would love if they made a touch screen tablet that had the full version of mac osx instead of the version on the iphone

[Demerit]

I would buy it in a heart-beat.
Mount it in my kitchen and use it for all my recipes, greasy fingers & all...

Oh. And could I route my iPhone calls there, too? Speaker phone like the Verizon hub?

Sweet...

[B-Ri]

I think it would be cool to have something between the iPhone and full OS X. Obviously you could just plop the Mac OS on a tablet interface but that wouldn't be fresh or new. But imagine an interface that is simplistic like the iPhone OS but with more flexibility like the full OS. I've always like the tablet pc model but it hasn't been made as usable as it should. A stylus is fine for some things but you don't always want to have to pull out a stylus just to surf the web. As far as smudging goes I completely agree that it can be an issue but not out of control unless you let your young son and his sticky hands play with it, which I have done with my ipod touch.

Apple can buy MacSpeech, add GPS with a dedicated chipset, cam and I would use it.

[gary85739]

I presume it will be ready for next Xmas shopping??

[madbard]

more likely not untili Mac World Expo in Jan 2010 (even if Apple doesn't show up, it will time the announcement to coincide).

[cvaldes1831]

Apple is not going to make something like a keyboardless netbook running full fledged OS X (Bluetooth enabled so you could use Bluetooth keyboards and mice). That would be too much like a netbook. Apple is going to come out with something remarkably different.

Handwriting recognition is not mentioned above, but apparently Apple has been making some progress in this area. Pen-based computing as well as voice recognition are other options as well, but it is unlikely that Apple would banish the virtual, screen-based keyboard for other input methods. More likely, you might have a choice of several.

Apple will likely create a third OS tier, something designed for the device category between iPhone/iPod touch and their computers. This phantom tablet would be a candidate for this new OS as would AppleTV. My thought is that this OS will be more like the iPhone OS rather than the computer OS.

It is unlikely that Apple will target this device as a computer replacement. Netbook usage has shown that people don't like working on that class device for very long for things like office documents. Yes, there will be some basic editing tools (iWork, etc.), but don't expect to spend 8 hours a day in front of this thing working.

The App Store and iTunes Store will be the drivers for this new device, as will streaming video. It would make sense for Apple to rewrite Front Row as an extensible portal, with the App Store providing access to new services (Hulu, etc.), much like some of the HT software (Boxee, etc.) as well as content from your home computer(s).

[cnetismyaeroplane]

dude. where can i pre-order?

[cvaldes1831]

Sorry, you cannot pre-order unannounced Apple products. Occasionally you *can* pre-order *announced* products. That would happen at store.apple.com.

[gmeader3]

Apple is not the only company that will be making tablets that are similar to netbooks.

Not from Apple, but it's a $300 tablet computer that's coming much sooner. Has an optional keyboard:

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

[fcpnokia]

I suspect that they will use a patent they filed for a couple of years ago that was basically a toaster slot in a desktop computer that you can place/remove a tablet like device in. This would allow a user to have the best of both worlds, a keyboard and bigger screen and a screen that they can take with them easily to the other room (Kitchen, family, office meeting, etc). I hate apple. Time to buy some apple stock.

[gravy jones]

I have heard reliable information that Apple is going to build a computing device that is only useful to the blind? They are going to unhinge their UI from FreeBSD and deliver a shell only experience!

[wigmo]

I think there is a current understanding that a "Tablet" has certain features, such a the ability to use a pressure sensitive stylus/pen, has handwriting recognition, etc. This is the case for PC tablets and the lone Mac Tablet by Axiotron. As an artist I would be interested in a low cost Mac Tablet, but not if it is a chunky iPhone with is 100% touch based along with a usb port for an external keyboard/mouse.

[IgnatiusTheKing]

A Mac tablet would almost certainly have bluetooth and would be able to use the current Apple keyboards and mice.