Re: [NTLK] Euro filing reveals Apple 'handheld computer'

From: Vaguely Radio (vradio_at_maine.rr.com)
Date: Fri Aug 13 2004 - 16:35:17 PDT


On Friday, August 13, 2004, at 10:34 AM, Nicolas Zinovieff wrote:

> Aw man... Are we _still_ doing this?
> - Mac OS X is _not_ fitted for embedded devices, which means that the
> batterylife of such a device, with a size of an iBook, would probably
> be a couple of hours

You'd know more than me, but it would seem that with a low-power
processor, lack of optical drive, and changes to screen brightness and
display power, that the battery life could be brought more into the
5-hour mark much like the iBooks/PowerBooks purport to have (and can
have, if the screen is very dim and the drive isn't spinning up
constantly).

> - InkWell is _not_ a priority for Apple. Given the lack of Ink sessions
> during the developer conference, and the lack of interest from the
> people in general, I seriously doubt it could be used _as is_ in a
> "handheld" or even "tablet" device.

Again you would know more about this. I do know, as The Register
references, some people that use Inkwell in unison with their Wacom
tablets. But certainly not exclusively, they of course have a keyboard
to fall back on when necessary.

> - The Tablet PC is a flop. Really. Get over it.

It's a flop, agreed. I don't think it had to be a flop, though, if it
were positioned properly (vertical markets, to start - medical data
collection, that sort of thing, much like the similarly-flopped
DataRover 840... or even our beloved Newton for that matter (we may
love it, but it's a flop from a return-on-investment standpoint)...
more on this in my closing paragraph...

> - This design could very well be a small screen, or the must awaited
> for iMac G5, or just something to prevent everyone else from doing a
> similar device.

It could indeed. Of course these rumours have been around for ages. I
think initial response to a Tablet would be less stellar than the
response if Apple came up with a whole new PDA operating system (in the
nascent market for PDA operating systems, it would be risky but not
probably as risky as the introduction of Newton OS was in the 90's).

My guess - a stab in the dark - is that this fits into Apple's
oft-stated greater strategy of dominating the home entertainment
market. The pieces are beginning to come together - Airport Express
for streaming wi-fi video (and with the proper codecs currently in
development, efficiently streaming video); the iPod for portable
data/audio storage. What we might be witnessing (and of course it's
all speculation at this point) is the opening salvo for a new time of
home device, taking the computer and finally giving it the form factor
and portability to be useful for the majority of people in the living
room - as a video controller, say, a dashboard for your entertainment
system, and even a sort of portable "smart television" with wireless
connectivity. Maybe I'm dreaming, but a more "entertainment-centric"
vision of what this tablet device could be seems to fit the current
scenario much better than the idea that Apple would want to enter the
same market that laptops and desktops are dominating already. I think
the magic bullet is to make a new device that takes functionality that
other devices are only tangentially capable of, and to capitalize on
that lack of coverage and fill that niche. Something like the Tivo vs.
the old concept of VCR recording - previous technology exists, but it
no longer suits our needs, or can be supplanted by something better.

-Dan

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