It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from the Modbook team – back before Apple’s original iPad, in fact – but the MacBook Pro conversion company is apparently back with a new offering. A new Facebook teaser campaign promises a product announcement on Thursday this week with the tagline “Imagination goes pro”, and indications that there could well be a new Pro-based artists tablet in the offing.
Details are in short supply, but a couple of previously posted graphics suggest the new Modbook will again use an active digitizer with a special stylus. We reviewed the original Modbook back in 2008 and came away impressed by how well OS X worked with a pen, particularly in terms of the flexibility that introduced for artwork and graphic design.
Interestingly, this isn’t the same Modbook team as last time. In fact, a new company licensed Axiotron’s original intellectual property, subsequently securing private equity funding to reboot the business in March. At the time, it said it expected “its first product release before the end of the year.”
Exactly what that product is – or what Mac it will be based upon – is unclear, though one of the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display machines would make for a very interesting basis for an artist’s tablet. We’ll know more tomorrow when Modbook makes its big announcement.
Google’s own-brand entrance into the 7-inch tablet market with the Nexus 7 has refueled speculation about a so-called iPad mini, with Apple expected to face increasing pressure to compete at the tweener size. Rumors of a smaller iPad – which would slot into the mid-point between the existing, 9.7-inch model, and the 3.5-inch iPhone and iPod touch – have circulated for as long as the iPad has been on sale; however, the arrival of the new Nexus 7 running Jelly Bean is arguably the biggest motivator yet for Apple to make good on the heresay.
The Nexus 7′s more direct competitor in the slate market is Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Tablet range. Both of the rivals – which each run Android, albeit with heavy customization – fall into the same near-$200 price window, versus the iPad which starts at $499 for the latest model.
Apple was tipped to deliver a smaller model of tablet alongside its Retina Display third-gen iPad, though instead the company kept on the iPad 2 and lowered the sticker price by $100. Nonetheless, industry observers have continued to predict a new, smaller model, with talk that orders have already been placed and that the new iOS slate could ship in Q3 2012.
Whether Apple would choose to compete with Google (and the others) with direct price parity is questionable. The company has not been afraid to sticker up its products with a relatively premium tag, reflecting a preference to deliver a cohesive all-round device rather than make cuts for the sake of a price target. Nonetheless, the $200 segment could prove more tempting now that Google has waded into it itself.
We already suspected as much — not least from the FCC filing above — but an unnamed executive at Asustek Computer Inc has reportedly just confirmed that Google’s much-rumored new tablet will be co-branded with ASUS. According to Reuters, the employee said the tablet will help Google to “target Amazon” and the Kindle range of tablets and e-readers. Despite the existence of Google Play Books, which are available on any Android tablet, the insider said that Google “doesn’t have anything like Amazon’s service” — a quote which may not make a ton of sense, but which does support the general notion of a $199 rival to the Kindle Fire.
A white version of Sprint’s Evo 4G LTE was teased late last week when some advertising materials were inadvertently outed on its website — which were subsequently changed to show the black version. However, one of our secret army of tipsters has sent in a picture that claims to show an internal document that reveals the handset will come in both ends of the gray scale. Of course, there’s no official word yet, but those rumors are sounding more convincing with each passing day. After the break we’ve got a cropped and zoomed version of the image, with the telling claim on the third bullet point if you fancy judging for yourself.
Details of two of RIM’s earliest BlackBerry 10 handsets have apparently leaked, tipping sibling series of all-touch and QWERTY-blessed smartphones running the next-gen OS. According to what’s tipped as an internal slide, sourced by N4BB, RIM is readying the full-touch BlackBerry L-Series – with a 768 x 1280 display – alongside the BlackBerry N-Series, which will have a QWERTY keyboard and a 720 x 720 display.
The L-Series – formerly known by its codename of “London” – is strongly reminiscent of the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device RIM handed out to developers to get them started creating apps for BlackBerry 10. It apparently measures 55mm wide and has a Retina Display-besting 356ppi screen.
Meanwhile, the N-Series – codenamed “Nevada” – will be 52-53mm wide and its square screen will run at 330ppi. The first model in the series will use an OLED panel, according to the slide, but future variants might swap that out for an LCD instead (presumably with some cost savings to hit lower price points).
As for when, exactly, these new phones could reach the market, the latest whispers suggest the BlackBerry L-Series might hit shelves as soon as early September 2012. RIM has already confirmed that its first BlackBerry 10 device will be touch-only, little surprise given the focus and form-factor of the Dev Alpha handset. The BlackBerry N-Series will drop in Q1 2013, it’s said.
RIM is considering splitting up its ailing BlackBerry business and selling off the handset manufacturing side, sources have claimed, with both Amazon and Facebook tipped as potential suitors. Details of the possible cleavage are scant, with UK newspaper The Sunday Times citing no sources in its report; RIM is supposedly weighing whether its messaging division would perform better as a standalone business.
That would leave the handset division either operating on its own, independent of the software and services teams, or – if RIM could find a buyer – spinning it off altogether. As for the messaging half, that too could be sold off if it made good business sense, with the paper mentioning Apple and Google as third-parties which might be interested.
Finally, another possibility is avoiding splits altogether and selling off the business entirely to a larger company, with Microsoft cited as a possibility. The Windows maker has made headlines recently with its push into tablet hardware in the shape of Microsoft Surface, though it’s generally believed that Nokia would make a more reasonable acquisition target given it has already adopted Windows Phone.
RIM confirmed last month that it had engaged JP Morgan and RBC Capital to examine possible options for the future, with significant job losses already on the cards. Whether it could muster sufficient interest among rivals to persuade them to open their wallets remains to be seen.
Fears of Windows tablet manufacturer apathy spurred Microsoft’s Surface development, despite insistence that the slates are intended to support not compete with OEM efforts, according the latest batch of rumors. Observations of the extent to which Apple will go to secure the materials necessary to develop distinctive and unique products – and concerns that its own Windows OEMs were playing device strategy too safely – prompted Microsoft taking Surface into its own hands, a former executive told the NYT, burned too by the ill-fated HP Slate 500 project.
That tablet, demonstrated by Steve Ballmer back in 2010 as a poster-child of Windows 7 on touchscreen hardware, highlighted the shortcomings both of off-the-shelf components and Microsoft’s own platform. Components sufficient to run Windows 7 left the slate heavy, thick, hot and expensive, while the performance of the OS itself fell significantly short of the iPad’s usability. “It would be like driving a car, and the car not turning when you turn the wheel” a former HP executive who worked on the Slate 500 project said, blaming underwhelming finger-friendliness in Windows and the multitouch display for the issues.
HP went on to spend hugely on acquiring Palm for webOS, then dropped the platform into open-source vagueness after the initial HP TouchPad feedback proved subpar. According to insiders at the firm, HP was frustrated at the apparent lack of time and investment Microsoft appeared to be demonstrating in getting Windows 7 to the level where it could legitimately compete with iOS on the iPad. For its part, Microsoft was supposedly reluctant to free up engineers and developers from coding Windows 8, which is designed from the outset to accomodate touchscreen control.
Opinion is now divided as to whether Microsoft wants to continue with its own hardware range or if, after it has shamed OEMs into action, it will bow out. “I think once they jump-start it, they plan to make money the way they always have,” MIT management professor Michael A. Cusamano suggests, “from licensing software,” echoing similar comments recently from Acer’s founder.
The company itself, though, is playing its cards close. “Microsoft has tremendous respect for our hardware partners and the innovation they bring to the Windows ecosystem,” Microsoft corporate VP Steven Guggenheimer insisted in the aftermath of the Surface reveal last week. “We are looking forward to the incredible range of new devices they are bringing out for Windows 8.” No pricing or specific release dates for either the ARM-based Windows RT Surface or the more expensive Intel-based Windows 8 Surface Pro have been confirmed.
As of late-2010, the ex-Microsoft exec claims, it was still undecided internally whether Surface would be Microsoft-branded or licensed out as a hardware reference design. The added control of helming the project from drawing board to store shelves seems to have tipped Microsoft’s hand, however.
According to an allegedly leaked training document, this is Google’s new tablet, a 7-inch Tegra 3 device running Android Jelly Bean. The document says that Nexus 7—as it is named—would hit the streets in July for $200. More »
Recently Apple announced Passbook, a new mobile wallet that will debut in iOS. Its existence prompted speculation that future iPhones will include NFC—and now 9to5mac is reporting that new iPhone prototypes feature the technology. More »
MSI’s sliding/folding touchscreen ultrabook, the Slider S20 unveiled at Computex earlier this month, will carry a hefty $799-$899 price tag when it launches according to the latest rumors. The Windows 8 hybrid, fronted by an 11.6-inch touchscreen, will drop in October or November, according to DigiTimes‘ sources.
MSI is yet to confirm final specifications for the convertible, though it’s known to use processors from Intel’s 3rd Gen Core range which pits it against Microsoft Surface Pro rather than the ARM-based Surface. That also means a full version of Windows 8 rather than Windows RT.
Connectivity, meanwhile, includes Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0, along with wired ethernet and HDMI. Interestingly it seems MSI doesn’t think the S20 needs a trackpoint buried in the keyboard, instead seemingly relying solely on the touchscreen, though that could change by the time the laptop/tablet hits shelves.
There’s more on the MSI Slider S20 ultrabook in our hands-on from Computex.
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