Hasta La Gadget!

And so it continues. It seems like just when rumorland is ready to claim this month or this season as the absolute certain sure time of the Apple tablet, those pesky “sources” get cold feed and bump the imaginary release date back a year or so. At least that’s what the folks at The Loop are saying. They claim “very reliable sources” have called the September rumor “flat out wrong,” and state that we won’t see the tablet until the first half of next year sometime. Sigh. Don’t give up internet, if we just wish hard enough we know that anything is possible.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Tablet PCs

‘Sources’ say no Apple tablet until 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I never fully believed the Apple tablet was real beyond dreams, until I heard these words over my phone: “Hey, it’s [redacted]. I may or may not have sat in some Apple meetings for the tablet.” 

I was driving, and swerved a little bit, even though both hands were on the wheel. Someone honked at me.

“What was that?” 

They repeated themselves.

I switched on Bluetooth and pulled over to the side of the road to hear the story. You see, earlier in the day I’d given my phone number out to someone who sent me a cryptic email wanting to talk Apple. This must have been them. (Later on I verified to a high level of certainty that they were in the position to have access to the information and after talking to them for over an hour, I believe them to the same level of certainty.)

“The device, which I’ve held mock ups of, is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time” they said, “with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button.” That’s obvious.

“But it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use.”  

Educational use?

They continued to explain the device as something that would sit between an iPod/iPhone and a MacBook, and would cost $700 to $900—”More than twice as much as a netbook,” they said.

To make up for that cost and make the device more than just a big iPod there was, this person claimed, there was talk of making the device act as a secondary screen/touchpad for iMacs and MacBooks, much like a few of the USB screens that have come out in recent months from Chinese companies. Very interesting.

They went on to say that although the project has been going on under various names between four and six years, the first prototype was built around the end of 2008. Adding, “The time to market from first prototype is generally 6-9 months.” That would place the device’s release date in this holiday season, at earliest. (Update: Added, at earliest in light of John Gruber and Jim Dalrymple beliefs that the date is further out, however. Dates are easy to push out.) They then said, “There was a question of what OS the device would run, too.” (Other people I’ve talked to have implied this remains a huge secret. Update: in variation. Obviously, it’ll be OS X.)

My call dropped on some windy road off Skyline Drive. Fucking AT&T.

Later, I asked, was there a code name for the project?

“Yes…[redacted].” 

I thought about it for a second, googled the term, and it all made sense. 

“Don’t publish that name, please,” they requested.

Don’t worry, I won’t.

After last Sunday’s rumor on the Apple Tablet’s September announcement, and yesterday’s evidence of two new iProducts in the iPhone OS 3.1 USB devices list, I have decided to elevate the level in our Apple Tablet Probability Meter to 90%.

The launch date remains the same: September launch, November release. That’s three months. Or three months and almost the whole of August, but you get the idea.

Like always, remember this is just our bet based on the evidence and rumors at hand.

Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Much of the speculation around an “iPad” — a rumored 10″ Apple tablet — has portrayed it as an Amazon Kindle-killer or a large-screen iPod touch, but there’s a strong case that such a product could effectively serve as a replacement for – or a compelling complement to — Apple’s non-platform sleeper Apple TV.

Apple faces a dilemma in moving iPhone apps to a larger screen size or higher resolution. It must either scale them (ugly), ask developers to create a large-screen version (cumbersome), or run them in a window (which would beg some level of multitasking at least beyond what the iPhone OS does today). Not only that, but a 10″ device is simply inconvenient for some of the iPhone’s apps. Just try focusing on the road with a 10″ navigation screen suctioned to your windshield.

The base version of Apple TV is 40 GB, just a bit over the 32 GB that has been offered on the iPod touch and iPhone. By the end of the year, a 64 GB flash product could be well within reach for a flash-based iPad. That would easily store many consumers’ photo libraries and a Netflix queue’s worth of movies. Rumors about the “Cocktail” music experience notwithstanding, the tablet would make an excellent platform for watching and displaying video and photos. a 10″ screen would be a fine fit for 720p video and the small size would mask artifacts that could show up on the 50″ television. But the iPad would be even more versatile than Apple TV.

Continue reading Switched On: The iPad could succeed Apple TV

Filed under: Handhelds

Switched On: The iPad could succeed Apple TV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is one small step forward in the Apple Tablet rumor. An anonymous Barron’s analyst says he’s seen the Apple Tablet and that the thing will be announced in September for a November launch.

He also says that what he saw was “close enough now to a final design,” and may retail for $700 to $800. Every other manufacturer is waiting now to see what this is, since it’s all over the supply chain in Asia.” “[Barrons via 9to5Mac]