Posts Tagged Apple Tablet

Apple's invitation that went out to the media regarding their "latest creation". Scheduled for the morning of January 27, we can probably expect to see Apple's first version of the portable tablet computer.

When it comes to Apple, its always a structured set of rumors that makeup our minds on the next Apple wonder, and the latest “creation” from Apple will be shown off (mostly likely by Steve Jobs, with the assistance of key designers/ coders such as Johnny Ives) on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. What I’d like to do is review some of the major rumors, show some sources, and let you make your own opinion about what you think your going to see.

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Name

Probably the most common and obvious question you could ask about this “product”, but the truth it that there is no definitive name. One of the first guesses would be the “iSlate”. This name comes from the iSlate.com domain name that Apple secretly registered awhile back. And not just a domain name, but private communications with a company called Slate Computing has the named “Magic Slate” trademarked as well, oh, and don’t forget the latest trademark from Apple: the iPad. You can make your own assumptions, but if I was to make a guess, iSlate sounds the most reasonable. Realastically thinking, when was the last time Apple released a product that didn’t start with an “i”? The Apple TV maybe?  Following a pattern of naming, it would only make sense that its going to be the iSlate… or iPad a suppose.

Release Date

Don’t be confused, chances are that even though Apple will demo there new product next Wednesday, it will not be available for at least another month or two. From a couple of different sources; the Wall Street Journal made a direct connection to an Apple Tablet and wrote that the product would be shipping in March. Another popular source for everything Apple, iLounge, came out and said that it would only make sense that the product be released in May or June, similar to how the iPhone was launched. And to conclude time-related rumors, Reuters came out and said it will be launched in the second quarter of 2010. And on a business calender, that could be anywhere from May to August.

Price

This recent Apple patent, though complicated, illustrates a new screen technology that merges the "touch" part to the screen itself, instead of laying them on top of each other. Allowing Apple to create touch screen devices at huge savings with more space to spare inside the device.

Like every gadget, hitting the right price point is crucial in attracting customers, obtaining sales, and have a nice profit at the end of the day.  Of course, the Wall Street Journal was quick as always to cite other analysts in speculating the $999 price point. Following a similar pattern of price drops (iPhone $600 -> $400 ->$200, and the Macbook Air $2200 -> $1800), I think we can assume that $800 might be as low as the price is going to go, at least while the gadget is still smoldering hot. After that, I’d assume we could expect $100-$200 price cuts on all models. But that’s assuming it starts at some crazy number like $1200 doing some crazy math that apparently only Apple knows. And with that in mind, we might even see a $1400 baseline price… but I sure hope we don’t.

Size

Bigger than an iPhone, but smaller than a Macbook seems to be a comparison in which most analysts are using. The WSJ went ahead and mentioned that it would be sold in a size from 10″-11″. But with a sharp contrast, TechCrunch says it’s going to be 7″ or 9″ respectively, assuming there is more than one model available with different sizes. But Digitimes was the only ones who specifically mentioned that there will be multiple model, one that’s 9.6″ with an OLED screen, and the other being 10.6″. Honestly though, whats an extra inch or two going to matter? I mean, 7″-12″ of screen won’t fit in your pocket anyway, but at least it’ll fit in your handbag.

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Obviously there is a lot more ins-and-outs of this device that no one is absolutely sure about, and if I started to go into everything that the community believes is going to be there, it probably won’t be at all right to the real product. So with all the sleep your loosing, maybe you could use your imagination for the next for days and just dream up whatever you think Steve put in the tablet.