Wired has decided that 2010 will be the year of the tablet, and it's arguable that the multi-touch additions to upcoming Snow Leopard make a tablet an obvious step for Apple. Despite that, others are claiming that after seven years of torturous rumours and speculation the predicted tablet from Apple just doesn't exist. Whatever the truth of the thing we can confidently predict that over the next few months the rumour mill will be running at high speed.
Sitting on the sidelines, nobody tells me anything. But something is up. The rumours surrounding the Apple tablet have a curious firmness about them, much like the later part of the two years of rumours leading up to the original iPhone launch back at the start of 2007.
However having used a tablet to try and do actual work, I tend to agree that tablets aren't mainstream. But then netbooks aren't mainstream and they're selling rather well, even I bought one, or as it happens two of them.
Dell at least may be deliberately targeting their rumoured tablet at the niche e-book reader market, and may well even offer their tablet for free with a contract for "one or more digital media subscriptions", which would be interesting. The Kindle is selling well, so perhaps it's even a sustainable model. Although Amazon at least aren't giving away the hardware as a loss leader.
When it comes down to it I'd be less interested in the rumours of an Apple tablet if it wasn't for the iPhone. The iPhone was the first mobile device I've ever owned, and I've owned a fair few, where I could check my email comfortably. That's made a big difference, and it's because the iPhone is not a phone, it just happens to be able to make phone calls. So maybe what I really need is a well designed tablet?
Update: Of course there are some people that are just pulling figures out of the air when it comes to the rumoured Apple tablet...
Showing posts with label Rumours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rumours. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Friday, January 04, 2008
Apple Patents fuel the Rumour Mill
News of the Apple patent for a docking station, combined with the recent rumours of a subnotebook have fueled the Apple rumour mill to unexpected levels (via CrunchGear), even for just before a Macworld.
As mentioned else where with this patent Apple have re-invented the PowerBook Duo and its DuoDock base station, and that idea seems to have come in from a lot of flak. But I'm not really sure why...
As I've mentioned in the past, the laptop market is split into two core demographics, the road warriors and the power users, and the two never really understand each other that well. I'm firmly in the road warrior camp, I'd kill and maim for a decent replacement for my faithful 12-inch Powerbook, and the 13-inch Macbook I bought back in October really isn't it.
Until I pick up a new Intel based desktop I'm not really going to be able to get rid of my old Powerbook, in favour of the new Macbook, entirely. So, not counting the 24U rack of servers I have stashed away in the machine room upstairs, I'm currently working from three different computers. My new 13-inch Macbook, my old 12-inch Powerbook and a 20-inch iMac. The idea that I could have a flash based 12-inch subnotebook for the road, and come home and slide that into a 24-inch iMac-like dock with the associated hard disk and screen real estate, without having to pull out and connect multiple wires is a very attractive proposition. For people who are on the go constantly this is the perfect solution.
Pity it's only a mock-up based on a patent application really...
Update: Anyone that thinks that a laptop can't be someone's primary computer is well behind the curve. Almost half the people working here in the astronomy group in Exeter, heavy CPU and disk users all, have a laptop as not just their primary, but their only computer. Desktops are pretty much dead tech except for specialised uses...
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| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
| Gizmodo's mock-up of Apple's rumoured notebook dock |
As mentioned else where with this patent Apple have re-invented the PowerBook Duo and its DuoDock base station, and that idea seems to have come in from a lot of flak. But I'm not really sure why...
As I've mentioned in the past, the laptop market is split into two core demographics, the road warriors and the power users, and the two never really understand each other that well. I'm firmly in the road warrior camp, I'd kill and maim for a decent replacement for my faithful 12-inch Powerbook, and the 13-inch Macbook I bought back in October really isn't it.
Until I pick up a new Intel based desktop I'm not really going to be able to get rid of my old Powerbook, in favour of the new Macbook, entirely. So, not counting the 24U rack of servers I have stashed away in the machine room upstairs, I'm currently working from three different computers. My new 13-inch Macbook, my old 12-inch Powerbook and a 20-inch iMac. The idea that I could have a flash based 12-inch subnotebook for the road, and come home and slide that into a 24-inch iMac-like dock with the associated hard disk and screen real estate, without having to pull out and connect multiple wires is a very attractive proposition. For people who are on the go constantly this is the perfect solution.
Pity it's only a mock-up based on a patent application really...
Update: Anyone that thinks that a laptop can't be someone's primary computer is well behind the curve. Almost half the people working here in the astronomy group in Exeter, heavy CPU and disk users all, have a laptop as not just their primary, but their only computer. Desktops are pretty much dead tech except for specialised uses...
Saturday, December 15, 2007
More rumours of an Apple ultra-portable
More rumours of the long awaited Apple sub-notebook ahead of Macworld in January. Quickly countered by people noting that 13.3-inches isn't a sub-notebook and assertions that Apple would be crazy to release a sub-notebook at all. I guess we'll have to wait till January...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Here comes the iPhone?
Reports are coming in (via TUAW) that Apple has announced an invite-only event to be held next Tuesday at the Regent Street Apple Store. The invite is pretty cryptic, even for Apple, but like almost everyone else I'm presuming that the tagline "Mum is no longer the word" is hinting at a UK release for the iPhone.
Update: My main objection to the rumours that O2 were Apple's chosen partner for the iPhone in the UK seems to be disappearing as, despite having a perfectly good 3G network, they appear to be rolling out an EDGE network across the UK. That more or less both confirms that Apple are going to be the shipping a 2.5G iPhone in the UK, and that O2 is their chosen partner. There really isn't any other reason for O2 to do this...
Update: I'm going to be presenting in a conference during Apple's announcement, so if you want to follow along you'll have to make do with Engadget's live coverage.
Update: My comments on the release of the iPhone in the UK.
Update: My main objection to the rumours that O2 were Apple's chosen partner for the iPhone in the UK seems to be disappearing as, despite having a perfectly good 3G network, they appear to be rolling out an EDGE network across the UK. That more or less both confirms that Apple are going to be the shipping a 2.5G iPhone in the UK, and that O2 is their chosen partner. There really isn't any other reason for O2 to do this...
Update: I'm going to be presenting in a conference during Apple's announcement, so if you want to follow along you'll have to make do with Engadget's live coverage.
Update: My comments on the release of the iPhone in the UK.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Applications on the iPhone and the iPod touch
With all the unofficial third party applications appearing for the iPhone one of the questions on my mind during last nights special event was whether the iPhone hacking effort was going to port seamlessly to the new iPod touch. Whether these third party applications could be run on the new iPod...
Well it looks like that's going to be the case, and better yet the conspicuously missing email and maps applications present on the iPhone but not on the touch will probably be really easy to pull across onto the new iPod as well. That turns the iPod touch from an interesting media device, to a working internet tablet...
Update: Interestingly Apple's Greg Joswiak says that the community has Apple's blessing (via Ars Technica) for native applications, and confirms that the iPod Touch and iPhone use the same software platform. Apple seems to be taking the middle ground, and while it won't support native code on the iPhone or the iPod touch, they're not going to forbid it either. Crucially Joswiak added that they will also not design software updates specifically to break native applications, although he made no promises about accidentally breaking them...
Update: Predictably the iPod touch firmware restore files have a different password to the iPhone's firmware, but the hunt is on to break the image. With that done, a jailbreak should be possible fairly quickly...
Well it looks like that's going to be the case, and better yet the conspicuously missing email and maps applications present on the iPhone but not on the touch will probably be really easy to pull across onto the new iPod as well. That turns the iPod touch from an interesting media device, to a working internet tablet...
Update: Interestingly Apple's Greg Joswiak says that the community has Apple's blessing (via Ars Technica) for native applications, and confirms that the iPod Touch and iPhone use the same software platform. Apple seems to be taking the middle ground, and while it won't support native code on the iPhone or the iPod touch, they're not going to forbid it either. Crucially Joswiak added that they will also not design software updates specifically to break native applications, although he made no promises about accidentally breaking them...
Update: Predictably the iPod touch firmware restore files have a different password to the iPhone's firmware, but the hunt is on to break the image. With that done, a jailbreak should be possible fairly quickly...
The 3G iPhone?
Only hours after the beat goes on and rumours of a European 3G iPhone release at the Apple Expo later this month are starting to circulate. It does make a certain amount of sense, a $200 price drop is pretty remarkable, and opens the way for a new 3G model to fill the vacated $599 price point.
None the less for a company that's not really known for rapidly upgrading their product lines, the 4GB iPhone died a suspiciously quick death. Surprisingly perhaps, Apple has understood from the outset the rapid turnover in models necessary in the mobile phone market. There is a reason the margin on mobile phones is notoriously low.
How long does a mobile phone stay on the market? In the US it might be different but in the UK, and the rest of Europe, it's a matter of months. I bought, or rather was given for free by my network, a Nokia N80 when I last renewed my contract just under a year ago. You can't even buy the handset anymore, if it was a desktop machine they'd still be churning it out. But it's a phone, the turn over time for phone models is 6 months to a year tops. If Apple are even selling the original iPhone in twelve months time then they're showing they don't understand the market they've got into...
Of course in the twenty days between now and the Apple Expo I'm sure Apple will shift a lot of iPod touch models to people desperate to get their hands on that touch screen goodness and can't yet buy an iPhone. One way or the other Apple will get their early adopter tax out of us Europeans.
I've got very little sympathy for those people who feel cheated because the price of their phone has dropped. Reducing the price by a third is actually fairly mild compared to some of the price drops you see on high end Nokias a few months after they roll out. The price of a high end phone can drop from (a subsidised price of) several hundred pounds to free with a twelve month contract in the space of a few weeks after launch. Sorry, but those are the breaks...
My prediction? If there is any truth to the rumours at all, then we'll see a 3G iPhone later this month at the $599 price point, possibly with more memory and a better camera. Such things actually matter in the European market. But six months after that the new phone will be sitting at the $399 price point and the current iPhone will be a memory.
To those of you complaining about that, you're buying a piece of disposable consumer hardware, not a desktop machine that's going to be with for the next three or four years. Forget about it...
Update: So even if you don't qualify for any other refund, Apple are now going to give you a $100 credit in the Apple Store if you were an early adopter. Happy now?
None the less for a company that's not really known for rapidly upgrading their product lines, the 4GB iPhone died a suspiciously quick death. Surprisingly perhaps, Apple has understood from the outset the rapid turnover in models necessary in the mobile phone market. There is a reason the margin on mobile phones is notoriously low.
How long does a mobile phone stay on the market? In the US it might be different but in the UK, and the rest of Europe, it's a matter of months. I bought, or rather was given for free by my network, a Nokia N80 when I last renewed my contract just under a year ago. You can't even buy the handset anymore, if it was a desktop machine they'd still be churning it out. But it's a phone, the turn over time for phone models is 6 months to a year tops. If Apple are even selling the original iPhone in twelve months time then they're showing they don't understand the market they've got into...
Of course in the twenty days between now and the Apple Expo I'm sure Apple will shift a lot of iPod touch models to people desperate to get their hands on that touch screen goodness and can't yet buy an iPhone. One way or the other Apple will get their early adopter tax out of us Europeans.
I've got very little sympathy for those people who feel cheated because the price of their phone has dropped. Reducing the price by a third is actually fairly mild compared to some of the price drops you see on high end Nokias a few months after they roll out. The price of a high end phone can drop from (a subsidised price of) several hundred pounds to free with a twelve month contract in the space of a few weeks after launch. Sorry, but those are the breaks...
My prediction? If there is any truth to the rumours at all, then we'll see a 3G iPhone later this month at the $599 price point, possibly with more memory and a better camera. Such things actually matter in the European market. But six months after that the new phone will be sitting at the $399 price point and the current iPhone will be a memory.
To those of you complaining about that, you're buying a piece of disposable consumer hardware, not a desktop machine that's going to be with for the next three or four years. Forget about it...
Update: So even if you don't qualify for any other refund, Apple are now going to give you a $100 credit in the Apple Store if you were an early adopter. Happy now?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Closing the iTunes Divide
The iTunes divide which has existed ever since the introduction of video content to iTunes in the US back in 2005 has, with little or no fanfare from Apple, just been firmly closed...
With today's other announcement, and perhaps despite the rumours earlier in the month that this was heading our way, this is interesting timing. Perhaps we're looking at a UK iPhone launch rather than (or as well as?) a new iPod?
With today's other announcement, and perhaps despite the rumours earlier in the month that this was heading our way, this is interesting timing. Perhaps we're looking at a UK iPhone launch rather than (or as well as?) a new iPod?
An iPhone without the phone?
It looks like the rumours of yet another Apple product launch were right, for once, and the invite is certainly suggestive of a new iPod .
Welcome to the next generaton iPod?
Of course rumours of a widescreen video iPod were floating around long before the iPhone finally showed up. Maybe this time? But then, I'd still rather have a replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook...
Update: Or are we looking at a UK launch for the iPhone?
Update: Live coverage of the Apple Special Event on the 5th of September.
Welcome to the next generaton iPod?
Of course rumours of a widescreen video iPod were floating around long before the iPhone finally showed up. Maybe this time? But then, I'd still rather have a replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook...
Update: Or are we looking at a UK launch for the iPhone?
Update: Live coverage of the Apple Special Event on the 5th of September.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Yet another Apple Special Event
Rumours of a refresh for the iMac, and end-of-life for the Mac mini, have come and gone, and we still don't know anything about the press event later today except that it is going to be Mac related. At least we didn't have to face a round of iPhone and iPod related rumours in the lead up to the event. Well, no more than you'd expect...
The news that .Mac was going to be down during the event sparked some last minute speculation,
but on the whole most people are waiting for the predicted refresh, in brushed aluminium, of the iMac line.
I'll be following the live coverage of the event, as I'm still hoping for an ultra-light replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook, and lets face it I'm a fully signed up member of the Cult of Mac. But if you don't want to follow the event live, check back here later today and I'll have the high and low-lights for your entertainment.
Update: One thing we won't see (via TUAW) later today,
Update (08:55am PST): The queue is apparently already forming outside 4 Infinite Loop, even if it does just consist of the Gizmodo and Engadget teams,
Update (09:34am PST): Queuing, the usual suspects...
Update (09:45am PST): The Apple Store is down ahead of the event, which pretty much confirms we're looking at new hardware...
The UK Apple Store
Update (09:57am PST): Both Gizmodo and Engadget have gone dark, but Mac Observer is posting live from the auditorium via their iPhone. Show offs...
Update (10:03am PST): ...and Engadget is back with live coverage. It looks like there is a large (iMac sized?) object under a black cover at the front of the auditorium.
Update (10:06am PST): Steve is on stage and talking about iMacs, looks like the predictions of a refresh for the iMac were at least partially correct then...
Update (10:09am PST): We have new iMacs in glass an aluminium, with glossy displays and in 20 and 24-inch form factors. Does that mean the 17-inch iMac is dead?
Update (10:13am PST): Looks like we're hanging onto the 17-inch,
Update (10:15am PST): It looks like Gizmodo has gone entirely dark under the weight of hits, but the Engadget feed is surprising responsive. Well done guys...
Update (10:21am PST): Looks like the rumours about a new ultra-thin brushed aluminium keyboard were spot on,
Update (10:23am PST): It looks like Gizmodo is back...
Update (10:31am PST): Moving up, we have a big update to iLife, and the release of iLife'08 with the new concept of "events" which allows you to manage your iPhoto library more cleanly. Erm, okay...
Update (10:36am PST): Moving on, Steve is talking about .Mac, and what a success it's been. I guess the news that everyone is complaining that it's seriously lagging in features and costs too much hasn't reached Cupertino. Looks like the new iLife'08 is even more tightly tied into .Mac, with easy direct-to-web publication from iPhoto.
Update (10:37am PST): I think I just heard hell freezing over,
did Steve really just say Web 2.0.?
Predictably it looks like there is some level of integration with the iPhone and you can take pictures with your iPhone and push them directly onto the new .Mac Web Gallery.
Update (10:45am PST): Moving on from the new iPhoto, Steve is now talking about iMovie. Looks like this is an entirely new application, totally rewritten from the ground up with a new UI.
Update (10:51am PST): Demo time, looks good...
Update (10:53am PST): Looks like more iPhone integration here, you can watch the movies you publish to .Mac via the new iMovie application directly on the iPhone. So far this really hasn't been, "...all about the Mac" has it? Sure we've had the new iMacs, but he's spending a lot of time talking about the new version of iLife, .Mac and iPhone integration. Are we looking at a hardware related "...one more thing"?
Update (10:57am PST): Moving on, it looks like iDVD and Garageband have also got an update. While iWeb now has widget integration; Google Maps, AdSense, YouTube. Just drop and drag web page creation...
Update (11:00am PST): iLife'08 costs $79, and is available today. It ships free with all new iMacs...
Update (11:04am PST): Now we're talking, the storage available with .Mac just went up from 1GB to a more reasonable 10GB. It looks like my iDisk finally might become useful.
Update (11:06am PST): Moving on, we also get a new version of iWork. He's talking about Keynote, with the spiffy new effects they've added, and Pages, with the new templates they've added. Erm, okay...
Update (11:10am PST): Okay, new application. It looks like iWork'08 ships with Numbers, a spreadsheet application to round of the office package. From the sounds of it, it does spreadsheet related things; formatting, sorting, doing formulas, moving columns around, and other such stuff.
Update (11:13am PST): iWork'08 costs $79, and is available today...
Update (11:15am PST): Tim Cook, the Chief Operating Officer, and Phil Schiller, the Executive Vice-President for Product Marketing, are on stage for a Q&A session.
Update (11:20am PST): Looks like the Mac mini is sticking around for a little while longer at least,
Update (11:23am PST): Interesting,
Update (11:29am PST): Here's one I wanted to know the answer to,
and that's a real shame, although I guess they didn't deny they're thinking about it..?
Update (11:35am PST): ...and we're done. What, no "...one more thing"? What's the world coming to? I guess I still don't get a replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook then?
Update (11:39am PST):The Apple Store has just come back up with all the new toys. Looks like they're serious, so that's all folks...
Update: Video of the special event is now online...
With thanks to Engadget, Gizmodo and the Mac Observer for real time coverage.
The news that .Mac was going to be down during the event sparked some last minute speculation,
Due to scheduled maintenance, .Mac members might be intermittently unable to access some .Mac services from 10 AM to 12 PM PDT on 08/07/2007. We apologize for any inconvenience.
but on the whole most people are waiting for the predicted refresh, in brushed aluminium, of the iMac line.
I'll be following the live coverage of the event, as I'm still hoping for an ultra-light replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook, and lets face it I'm a fully signed up member of the Cult of Mac. But if you don't want to follow the event live, check back here later today and I'll have the high and low-lights for your entertainment.
Update: One thing we won't see (via TUAW) later today,
Update (08:55am PST): The queue is apparently already forming outside 4 Infinite Loop, even if it does just consist of the Gizmodo and Engadget teams,
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (09:34am PST): Queuing, the usual suspects...
 |
| CREDIT: Engadget |
Update (09:45am PST): The Apple Store is down ahead of the event, which pretty much confirms we're looking at new hardware...
The UK Apple Store
Update (09:57am PST): Both Gizmodo and Engadget have gone dark, but Mac Observer is posting live from the auditorium via their iPhone. Show offs...
Update (10:03am PST): ...and Engadget is back with live coverage. It looks like there is a large (iMac sized?) object under a black cover at the front of the auditorium.
 |
| CREDIT: Engadget |
Update (10:06am PST): Steve is on stage and talking about iMacs, looks like the predictions of a refresh for the iMac were at least partially correct then...
 |
| CREDIT: Engadget |
Update (10:09am PST): We have new iMacs in glass an aluminium, with glossy displays and in 20 and 24-inch form factors. Does that mean the 17-inch iMac is dead?
 |
| CREDIT: Engadget |
Update (10:13am PST): Looks like we're hanging onto the 17-inch,
What about the inside? Up to 2.4GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, up to 4GB of memory. ATI Radeon HD graphics card, up to 1TB of hard drive storage. 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0 built-in. What models will we have? Up until now, 17-inch, 20-inch, and 24-inch. Well, today we're replacing the 24-inch, lowering price by $200, 20-inch at same $1499. replacing 17-inch with $1199 model. - via Engadget
Update (10:15am PST): It looks like Gizmodo has gone entirely dark under the weight of hits, but the Engadget feed is surprising responsive. Well done guys...
Update (10:21am PST): Looks like the rumours about a new ultra-thin brushed aluminium keyboard were spot on,
 |
 |
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| CREDIT: Engadget |
This is the new iMac. Just gorgeous. You can see we have a full complement of I/O across the bottom. USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Fireiwre 800. Slot load superdrive. iSight camera and microphone. Can add memory with just one screw. New iMac will come in two sizes: 20-inch display, and 24-inch display. Both will be glossy. Customers say they love glossy displays. - via Engadget
Update (10:23am PST): It looks like Gizmodo is back...
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| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
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| CREDIT: Engadget |
Update (10:31am PST): Moving up, we have a big update to iLife, and the release of iLife'08 with the new concept of "events" which allows you to manage your iPhoto library more cleanly. Erm, okay...
Update (10:36am PST): Moving on, Steve is talking about .Mac, and what a success it's been. I guess the news that everyone is complaining that it's seriously lagging in features and costs too much hasn't reached Cupertino. Looks like the new iLife'08 is even more tightly tied into .Mac, with easy direct-to-web publication from iPhoto.
Update (10:37am PST): I think I just heard hell freezing over,
This is a true Web 2.0 app. Web app behaving just like iPhoto on my desktop... - via Engadget
did Steve really just say Web 2.0.?
 |
 |
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Predictably it looks like there is some level of integration with the iPhone and you can take pictures with your iPhone and push them directly onto the new .Mac Web Gallery.
Update (10:45am PST): Moving on from the new iPhoto, Steve is now talking about iMovie. Looks like this is an entirely new application, totally rewritten from the ground up with a new UI.
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (10:51am PST): Demo time, looks good...
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (10:53am PST): Looks like more iPhone integration here, you can watch the movies you publish to .Mac via the new iMovie application directly on the iPhone. So far this really hasn't been, "...all about the Mac" has it? Sure we've had the new iMacs, but he's spending a lot of time talking about the new version of iLife, .Mac and iPhone integration. Are we looking at a hardware related "...one more thing"?
Update (10:57am PST): Moving on, it looks like iDVD and Garageband have also got an update. While iWeb now has widget integration; Google Maps, AdSense, YouTube. Just drop and drag web page creation...
Update (11:00am PST): iLife'08 costs $79, and is available today. It ships free with all new iMacs...
Update (11:04am PST): Now we're talking, the storage available with .Mac just went up from 1GB to a more reasonable 10GB. It looks like my iDisk finally might become useful.
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (11:06am PST): Moving on, we also get a new version of iWork. He's talking about Keynote, with the spiffy new effects they've added, and Pages, with the new templates they've added. Erm, okay...
Update (11:10am PST): Okay, new application. It looks like iWork'08 ships with Numbers, a spreadsheet application to round of the office package. From the sounds of it, it does spreadsheet related things; formatting, sorting, doing formulas, moving columns around, and other such stuff.
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (11:13am PST): iWork'08 costs $79, and is available today...
Update (11:15am PST): Tim Cook, the Chief Operating Officer, and Phil Schiller, the Executive Vice-President for Product Marketing, are on stage for a Q&A session.
 |
| CREDIT: Gizmodo |
Update (11:20am PST): Looks like the Mac mini is sticking around for a little while longer at least,
Q: How is the Mac Mini doing? And are you updating it? A: We are refreshing the Mac Mini and making it even faster. It's already in the online store. - via Gizmodo
Update (11:23am PST): Interesting,
Q: How is Apple TV today? How does it fit into Mac? A:We're here to talk about Mac, we'll have some news for the Apple TV soon, but nothing to talk about today. - via Engadget
Update (11:29am PST): Here's one I wanted to know the answer to,
Q: Will there be multi-touch technology in the Mac? A: It makes a lot of sense in the iPhone, but we're not sure it makes sense in the Mac. We'll categorize it as a research project for now. - via Gizmodo
and that's a real shame, although I guess they didn't deny they're thinking about it..?
Update (11:35am PST): ...and we're done. What, no "...one more thing"? What's the world coming to? I guess I still don't get a replacement for my 12-inch Powerbook then?
Update (11:39am PST):The Apple Store has just come back up with all the new toys. Looks like they're serious, so that's all folks...
Update: Video of the special event is now online...
With thanks to Engadget, Gizmodo and the Mac Observer for real time coverage.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
More ultra-portable rumours...
Another round of ultra-portable rumours have started, talking about the long predicted release of a replacement for the 12-inch Powerbook.
Of course the announcement of the iPhone a year later at Macworld in 2007 started rumours about a possible touch screen model, but I'm writing those of as wishful thinking. I'm going to be real happy with an ultra-light ultra-portable, especially if it really is Flash based and does away with the Hard Disk entirely.
Of course I've been saying that for a year and a half now, and I'm still typing this blog post on my aging 12-inch Powerbook. So I'm not holding my breath...
...the new notebook is said to be half as thick, or something between 0.6 and 0.7 inches. It will also be, by far, the lightest computer Apple ever released, at less than 3 pounds. - MacScoopAlong with everyone else I've been waiting for something "much cooler" and talking about a replacement for the 12-inch since just after the Macworld keynote in January 2006.
Of course the announcement of the iPhone a year later at Macworld in 2007 started rumours about a possible touch screen model, but I'm writing those of as wishful thinking. I'm going to be real happy with an ultra-light ultra-portable, especially if it really is Flash based and does away with the Hard Disk entirely.
Of course I've been saying that for a year and a half now, and I'm still typing this blog post on my aging 12-inch Powerbook. So I'm not holding my breath...
Sunday, May 13, 2007
More ultra-portable rumours?
Rumours of LED displays and ultra-portables as well as 3G cellular modem are starting to circulate, along with predictions of an "ultra-portable" replacement for the 12-inch Powerbook to arrive with Leopard around the end of the year.
Of course, we've been here before. Like the iPhone, which we talked about for over two years before it saw the light of day, we've been talking about a new hyper-portable for more than a year now. Predictions of an "instant on" laptop have been doing the rounds ever since the switch to Intel did away the 12-inch Powerbook and no replacement appeared on the horizon.
Of course a lot of these new rumours originate with Think Secret, and they're not exactly well known for their reliability. I guess I'm not going to be holding my breath, going on past performance it'll be well into next year before we see an ultra-portable replacement for the 12-inch. If one exists at all of course...
Update: More from Engadget...
Of course, we've been here before. Like the iPhone, which we talked about for over two years before it saw the light of day, we've been talking about a new hyper-portable for more than a year now. Predictions of an "instant on" laptop have been doing the rounds ever since the switch to Intel did away the 12-inch Powerbook and no replacement appeared on the horizon.
Of course a lot of these new rumours originate with Think Secret, and they're not exactly well known for their reliability. I guess I'm not going to be holding my breath, going on past performance it'll be well into next year before we see an ultra-portable replacement for the 12-inch. If one exists at all of course...
Update: More from Engadget...
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
An ultra-thin 12-inch after all?
The announcement today from SanDisk of a 2.5-inch 32GB solid state SATA drive (via Uneasy Silence) for only US$350 is a lot more important than it looks...
The SanDisk 32G SSD
The vast majority of laptops these days use the 2.5-inch drive form factor, and this is the first affordable solid state disk that I know about that will drop right into those internal bay, without manufacturers having to radically redesign their hardware. So this really is an important step forwards, and means we're all that much closer to the much rumoured replacement for the 12-inch Powerbook that I've been wanting.
The SanDisk 32G SSD
The vast majority of laptops these days use the 2.5-inch drive form factor, and this is the first affordable solid state disk that I know about that will drop right into those internal bay, without manufacturers having to radically redesign their hardware. So this really is an important step forwards, and means we're all that much closer to the much rumoured replacement for the 12-inch Powerbook that I've been wanting.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
An Apple Special Event on the 20th?
But as Crunch Gear asks, the main question is "...what else are we going to see?", and I've got to agree with them, we probably aren't looking at anything as exciting as a new 12-inch Macbook Pro. But an upgraded Mac mini is probably a good bet.
Friday, January 19, 2007
A touch screen 12-inch replacement?
In the wake of the iPhone announcement last week rumours of a replacement for Apple's 12-inch Powerbook are once again circulating. However this time people are talking about a touch screen interface or a full blown tablet Mac.
Are they mad? I spend three quarters of my life sitting in-front of a computer, its what I do, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to scream in horror at the thought of loosing the tactile feedback from a real keyboard in exchange for a touch screen. However what they seem to be missing is the trackpad, why do we need it anymore? The multi-touch technology of the iPhone is far in advance, and much more intuitive, than any trackpad I've ever used including Apple's own scrolling version. So why not get rid of the track pad entirely and make the screen the real interface? Hang onto the keyboard, any decent typist beyond the hunt and peck stage isn't going to like it going away, but the track pad? Nobody likes track pads, or most, if any of the alternatives. No track pad, and we're that much closer to the light weight 12-inch replacement I've been hoping we'd see for a while now.
I very much doubt well see a "real" Mac tablet, other that Axiotron's Modbook, there just isn't the market yet and to be honest I don't think there ever will be, but a laptop with a touch screen interface? You can almost see it coming...
Are they mad? I spend three quarters of my life sitting in-front of a computer, its what I do, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to scream in horror at the thought of loosing the tactile feedback from a real keyboard in exchange for a touch screen. However what they seem to be missing is the trackpad, why do we need it anymore? The multi-touch technology of the iPhone is far in advance, and much more intuitive, than any trackpad I've ever used including Apple's own scrolling version. So why not get rid of the track pad entirely and make the screen the real interface? Hang onto the keyboard, any decent typist beyond the hunt and peck stage isn't going to like it going away, but the track pad? Nobody likes track pads, or most, if any of the alternatives. No track pad, and we're that much closer to the light weight 12-inch replacement I've been hoping we'd see for a while now.
I very much doubt well see a "real" Mac tablet, other that Axiotron's Modbook, there just isn't the market yet and to be honest I don't think there ever will be, but a laptop with a touch screen interface? You can almost see it coming...
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Pre-Macworld'07 Rumours
We're in the final hours before Macworld and the rumour mill is running full steam ahead, with yet more iPhone rumours.
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| CREDIT: Laurie Duncan/TUAW |
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| Posted via Flickr by tuaw |
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The Macworld'07 rumour mill
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| CREDIT: Apple |
As always in the lead up to Macworld, the rumour mill must roll. It looks like this year TUAW is leading the pack with their predictions for Macworld 2007.
However the mill has been spun up to full speed by the teaser image now being displayed on the Apple website. As Mac Rumors points out this is the first time that Apple have run a pre-Macworld teaser since 2002 which brought the arrival of the first flat panel iMac, the 14-inch iBook and the arrival of Mac OS X as the standard boot OS for Apple hardware. Are we really looking at something as dramatic as that next week?
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The next 12 inches?
As I've said before there are really only two demographics when it comes to the laptop market. The road warriors, who would kill for another half hour of battery, or half a kilogram less of laptop, and the power users who desperately want another couple of inches of screen real estate, and another hundred gigabytes of hard drive.
I definitely fall into the road warrior category. I spend half my life in airports hunting for power sockets, and on airplanes, carefully hoarding every last minute of battery life.
So what do I want out of a laptop? I want it to be small, not having those couple more inches of screen really don't bother me that much. I want it to be light, run the length of Charles de Gaulle or Frankfurt airport once or twice and those couple of extra pounds of laptop you're lugging around suddenly seem important. Finally I want battery life, enough for a trans-Atlantic flight, so that means eight hours or more.
What am I willing to trade off to get what I want? Money. I'm quite willing, and expect to have to, pay through the nose for my new laptop. Most road warriors will be because in the end "the company" is paying, the new laptop won't cost much more than throwing me onto a plane and lobbing me across the Atlantic once or twice. Anything that makes me even marginally more productive while I'm travelling is probably, in the end, more than worth the money.
However I'm betting you think it isn't possible, that you can't get a laptop with a 12-inch form factor and decent performance and make it light enough that I'd be willing to admit it that this is something "much cooler"...
Ditch the optical drive, I don't use it anymore. If people are really worried about shipping a laptop without one, throw in an external USB drive. Get rid of the hard drive, and replace it with flash memory. Finally get rid of the LCD and replace it with a colour EPD like the new Motorola F3. Even after throwing in 802.11n, Bluetooth, GPS and a built-in 3G modem I still reckon you'd have an eight hour battery life and a 12-inch form factor. After all, its the display and the hard drive which are the main power drains on a modern laptop, and without the optical drive there will be plenty of room to fit in the GPS and 3G chipsets which will make this the killer laptop for the road warrirors.
Fresh rumours of a hyper-portable are now starting to float around in the lead up to Macworld in San Francisco in January 2007. Of course there are many other rumours floating around as well, so who knows what's going to happen...
All I know is that I need something to replace my ageing 12-inch Powerbook, and I know what I want. The only question now is whether Apple is going to provide it?
I definitely fall into the road warrior category. I spend half my life in airports hunting for power sockets, and on airplanes, carefully hoarding every last minute of battery life.
So what do I want out of a laptop? I want it to be small, not having those couple more inches of screen really don't bother me that much. I want it to be light, run the length of Charles de Gaulle or Frankfurt airport once or twice and those couple of extra pounds of laptop you're lugging around suddenly seem important. Finally I want battery life, enough for a trans-Atlantic flight, so that means eight hours or more.
What am I willing to trade off to get what I want? Money. I'm quite willing, and expect to have to, pay through the nose for my new laptop. Most road warriors will be because in the end "the company" is paying, the new laptop won't cost much more than throwing me onto a plane and lobbing me across the Atlantic once or twice. Anything that makes me even marginally more productive while I'm travelling is probably, in the end, more than worth the money.
However I'm betting you think it isn't possible, that you can't get a laptop with a 12-inch form factor and decent performance and make it light enough that I'd be willing to admit it that this is something "much cooler"...
Ditch the optical drive, I don't use it anymore. If people are really worried about shipping a laptop without one, throw in an external USB drive. Get rid of the hard drive, and replace it with flash memory. Finally get rid of the LCD and replace it with a colour EPD like the new Motorola F3. Even after throwing in 802.11n, Bluetooth, GPS and a built-in 3G modem I still reckon you'd have an eight hour battery life and a 12-inch form factor. After all, its the display and the hard drive which are the main power drains on a modern laptop, and without the optical drive there will be plenty of room to fit in the GPS and 3G chipsets which will make this the killer laptop for the road warrirors.
Fresh rumours of a hyper-portable are now starting to float around in the lead up to Macworld in San Francisco in January 2007. Of course there are many other rumours floating around as well, so who knows what's going to happen...
All I know is that I need something to replace my ageing 12-inch Powerbook, and I know what I want. The only question now is whether Apple is going to provide it?
Monday, December 18, 2006
Fallout from the Linksys iPhone?
Well we'd pretty much all guessed it wasn't going to be an Apple announcement as the weekend drew to a close and nobody has really heard anything that would have indicated that two years of waiting was finally at an end. It turns out that the iPhone trademark has been owned by Cisco since 1996 and today was the day they finally chose to release something under the brand name.
So now we have the Linksys iPhone, and its arrival even made it into the mainstream media purely on the strength of Apple iPhone hysteria.
One of the Linksys iPhone models released today
The main question that seems to be bothering people is what Apple is now going to call their phone. What phone? What hard evidence apart from a great deal of rumour and speculation do we actual have that Apple is planning to release a phone? It looks like this joke by Gizmodo has backfired quite badly for them, and for many it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. They don't care anymore, and you know what? I don't blame them...
Update: Scoble is claiming that the release of the iPhone by Linksys is a publicity coup for them, and a kick in the teeth for Apple. I'd argue quite the opposite, nobody cares about the Linksys product. The most common reaction was indifference, and then the inevitable question as to what Apple will call their cellphone now? I also don't think the iPhone's release strategy was a clever manipulation of the blogosphere, unless it was by Brian Lam on behalf of Gizmodo rather than by Linksys itself, don't look for conspiracy where the facts can equally well be explained by incompetence.
So now we have the Linksys iPhone, and its arrival even made it into the mainstream media purely on the strength of Apple iPhone hysteria.
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| CREDIT: Linksys |
The main question that seems to be bothering people is what Apple is now going to call their phone. What phone? What hard evidence apart from a great deal of rumour and speculation do we actual have that Apple is planning to release a phone? It looks like this joke by Gizmodo has backfired quite badly for them, and for many it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. They don't care anymore, and you know what? I don't blame them...
Update: Scoble is claiming that the release of the iPhone by Linksys is a publicity coup for them, and a kick in the teeth for Apple. I'd argue quite the opposite, nobody cares about the Linksys product. The most common reaction was indifference, and then the inevitable question as to what Apple will call their cellphone now? I also don't think the iPhone's release strategy was a clever manipulation of the blogosphere, unless it was by Brian Lam on behalf of Gizmodo rather than by Linksys itself, don't look for conspiracy where the facts can equally well be explained by incompetence.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
More Apple rumours...
At the time of posting over 3,000 people had voted in the TUAW iPhone poll, and over half of them think there is going to be an iPhone released at Macworld in January. I'm not sure what that means, how can people claim to have an opinion on this? Outside the team developing the iPhone, if such a thing actually exists, there are probably half a dozen people who really know what's going on, even this late in the day it's doubtful that Apple's PR department has heard more than rumours.
It also appears that yet another round of MVNO rumours seem to be going around, we last talked seriously about this right back in January, and in an unrelated thread there are rumours of an ultra-thin Macbook Pro [1, 2] floating around. Presumably this ultra-thin notebook would be a replacement for the old 12-inch Powerbook, and fill a big hole in Apple's current notebook line up. This is something I want desperately, as my own Powerbook can't last forever. However I'm not holding out a lot of hope on that one, it just seems to good to be true. Especially with other rumours hinting at the demise of the 15-inch Macbook Pro circulating at the same time.
The really interesting thing that came up during the last Special Event in September was the iTV. It took everyone by surprise, nobody was expecting it and it hadn't been predicted. The things that people were predicting, the iPhone and the "real" video iPod yet again failed to appear. Like many I'm getting bored by these continued predictions, until it gets a lot closer to Macworld, anyone that claims they have a "inside source" isn't telling the whole truth.
Update: Apple Matters on the nine day keynote...
It also appears that yet another round of MVNO rumours seem to be going around, we last talked seriously about this right back in January, and in an unrelated thread there are rumours of an ultra-thin Macbook Pro [1, 2] floating around. Presumably this ultra-thin notebook would be a replacement for the old 12-inch Powerbook, and fill a big hole in Apple's current notebook line up. This is something I want desperately, as my own Powerbook can't last forever. However I'm not holding out a lot of hope on that one, it just seems to good to be true. Especially with other rumours hinting at the demise of the 15-inch Macbook Pro circulating at the same time.
The really interesting thing that came up during the last Special Event in September was the iTV. It took everyone by surprise, nobody was expecting it and it hadn't been predicted. The things that people were predicting, the iPhone and the "real" video iPod yet again failed to appear. Like many I'm getting bored by these continued predictions, until it gets a lot closer to Macworld, anyone that claims they have a "inside source" isn't telling the whole truth.
Update: Apple Matters on the nine day keynote...
Friday, December 08, 2006
Postage unpaid from Apple?
This report being carried by TUAW isn't good news. Until now if you've had a problem with an Apple product in the UK, and it was either covered under Apple Care or you were willing to pay its way, Apple shipped you a pre-paid container. You packaged up your damaged, broken or malfunctioning product, it was collected by courier, repaired and shipped back to you. All without leaving the comfort of your office.
I made good use of this service when the Ethernet daughterboard on my Powerbook died while I was in Japan and was really happy about the turn around time. At least once I'd persuaded the person at the other end of the Apple Support line that there was a real hardware problem with my Powerbook, and that they really did want to look at it. If true, the demise of the service is disastrous, and a real step backwards from Apple.
However as a major customer I thought I would have heard about this directly from Apple, at least got some sort of notification before it was discontinued. I haven't, so I'm writing this off as a weird rumour until told otherwise, does anyone have any confirmation?
Update: It now looks like this might be a temporary measure brought on by the closure of Celestica's Telford facility.
I made good use of this service when the Ethernet daughterboard on my Powerbook died while I was in Japan and was really happy about the turn around time. At least once I'd persuaded the person at the other end of the Apple Support line that there was a real hardware problem with my Powerbook, and that they really did want to look at it. If true, the demise of the service is disastrous, and a real step backwards from Apple.
However as a major customer I thought I would have heard about this directly from Apple, at least got some sort of notification before it was discontinued. I haven't, so I'm writing this off as a weird rumour until told otherwise, does anyone have any confirmation?
Update: It now looks like this might be a temporary measure brought on by the closure of Celestica's Telford facility.
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