Technology Apple confirms Jan. 27 media event to show off 'latest creation'

#1



Apple officially sent out invitations Monday for its expected Jan. 27 event in San Francisco, where it is anticipated the company will introduce its new touchscreen tablet device.

According to Engadget the invitation was sent out Monday with the tagline: "Come see our latest creation." The included graphic has the Apple logo surrounded by colorful paint splatters. The event is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Pacific time.

Earlier this month, Digital Daily first reported the final Wednesday, Jan. 27 date. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. That followed an earlier report that Apple had booked the stage at the center for multiple days that week.

Apple is expected to make a major product announcement at the event, which most believe will be its long-rumored tablet device, confirming a story first reported here in 2007. In addition, last July, AppleInsider first reported that the multi-touch, 10-inch successor to the Newton would arrive in early 2010.

In December, select iPhone developers were allegedly asked to prepare full-screen demos of their software for a product unveiling. It has been suggested that developers are working with a new version of the iPhone OS that allows software to be scaled to multiple screen sizes.

Various reports, including one from The Wall Street Journal, have said that though next week's event will serve as an official unveiling of the tablet, it will not be made available for sale until later this year. Sources have said that date would likely be around March.
It's on: Apple holding January 27th event to show off its 'latest creation' -- Engadget

There is so much hype regarding Apple's rumored tablet and Apple knows this. So I cant wait to see the tablet and what features this thing has. It will more than likely be awesome and if able to be subsidized with a cellular network... it will sell as well as the iPhone. :cool:
 

S. Fourteen

Well-Known Member
#2
The CEO of the decade is on a mission from god or buddha or whoever to create the best personal computing devices known to man before his departure from Earth.
 

S. Fourteen

Well-Known Member
#4
oh masta, you wouldn't be excited about this if it made you sandwich and gave you a blow-job.

Great number of existing products never get publicity like this and you're mad because life is unfair. You could say it's crafty marketing - or you could say it's genuine enthusiasm shared by many people.

Either way, there are rumblings on the net about potential deals between Apple and various content providers. The rest rests on the iPhone OS 4.

Prepare for another decade of Apple growth.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#5
lol actually I was joking. I wonder how this turns out but I don't think it could be any useful to me. However I'm "open for this". If it's not really a tablet like we know them and it's a new blue ocean idea and turns out really awesome then who knows. But if it's just a casual tablet with Apple Os on it then.. it'll be a piece of shit.
You know, not many people actually use tablets.

Prepare for another decade of Apple growth.
Actually Apple loses its market share.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#8
Hey, masta did you see the amount of emerging tablets at the CES this year? LOL
yeah. There are also Android tablets coming out soon.
But seriously, tablets are not really that useful. Right now it's either about mobile phones or a pc/laptops for most people. You can't fit a tablet in your pocket and if you already have some more carrying space then laptops are more convenient.
But who knows with the new-gen tablets. We'll see.
 

S. Fourteen

Well-Known Member
#9
“2010 is the year of the tablet, this is a category that’s got our name on it,” says Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia chief executive, referring to his chips’ ability to deliver high performance without quickly draining a battery.

“We have been weaned on the iPhone with this idea of touch and tablets, all of these kinds of behaviours have been taught to us now and consumers are comfortable with them.”

However, many of the new tablet makers are not thinking enough about the consumer experience, according to Geoff Walker, marketing manager at touch-screen supplier NextWindow.

“I looked at probably 30 tablets at CES and [their makers] were talking about the hardware – the screen size, the storage, the weight, the operating system – but when I asked them about how people were going to use it, they really hadn’t thought about that,” he says.

Most observers are looking to Apple and its chief executive Steve Jobs to define what the consumer experience should be on a tablet and help to drive adoption in the same way the iPhone has changed the smartphone market.

“I was in the front row at Steve Ballmer’s speech at CES and the tablet to him was like another piece of hardware that’s running Windows 7,” says Robert Scoble, a popular blogger and former “evangelist” of tablets for NEC of Japan.

“I don’t think Steve Jobs is going to do that. I expect him to show off something new and some new interaction that most people haven’t considered yet with the world.”
FT.com / Technology - Will tablets be swallowed?

I took the day off on the 27th so I can watch the keynote live! :D
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#10
Who the fuck wants iPhone OS on a tablet? If they had put OSX on there this might be more interesting.

HP have the best idea - the Windows 7 tablet that Steve Ballmer demonstrated at CES is coming out in two editions - the Win7 one for those who are used to Windows and a traditional OS, and an Android version also. Choices are good.

Speaking of choices, there's already been at least 10 Android tablets demo'd. Different sizes, different custom UI's in some cases, different kinds of hardware to suit different needs.

Frankly those are far more interesting.

Also is it true the Apple tablet is going to be called the iPad? If so......EPIC LOL and to quote thousands of observers "sounds like a tampon" lawl
 

S. Fourteen

Well-Known Member
#11
Casey, people hated tablets in the past because they were like "who the fuck wants desktop OS on a touchscreen tablet?" - You know this.

If that Photoshop brush work on Apple's invite (suggesting something like "everyone can be an artitst!") and the patent filings by Apple regarding multi-touch iWork and iLife are an indication of what's to come - I, for one, will not be missing any of my pirated OSX software.


I really really hope the tablet is NOT subsidized.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#14
And can I if it will not?

I don't doubt that there are many Apple fanboys in the US that will buy any gadget even if they don't need it; combined with people who actually use tablets for work and those who find it fashionable or whatever it might sell relatively well. Apple has its power of fanboys and gadget fiends behind and that's what they tend to use the most.
 

S. Fourteen

Well-Known Member
#15
Apple and its fanboys respect the co-existance. But not because of blindness like you might be trying to suggest.

Consider it like a Google Wave invite for something :)
 

Caesar

New Member
Staff member
#16
Apple will revolutionize the way people use and view tablets, make them cool to the public and actually generate a market for these devices, that lets face it, doesnt exist right now. Then everyone else will try to out do them.

The same happened with the iPod, the same thing happened with the iPhone.

You watch, the ONLY reason these Android and HP tablets will sell is because Apple will create a demand for tablets and people will want to be "cool" and find alternatives (Casey). But if it wasnt for the fact that Apple will make the tablet a must have device, no one would even care about those alternatives to begin with.

No one right now is saying "oooh I need a tablet," not even you guys in here. But once Apple revolutionizes how people use and feel about tablets, everyone will want one. All these companies creating tablets now are just doing so to make sure they can meet the demand created by Apple in the future and should all be thanking Steve Jobs.

I would actually love for him to come out and say "You know what, we bluffed, we're not even making a tablet" and then all the other companies will cry because they would have wasted development dollars on products the general public wont care about without Apple involved.
 

Caesar

New Member
Staff member
#17
Who the fuck wants iPhone OS on a tablet? If they had put OSX on there this might be more interesting.
Who? Millions of people who arent computer geeks and just want a device that works and does what THEY want easily.

You should google Jef Raskin. This will probably be his vision further developed past the bastardized iPhone version.


Also is it true the Apple tablet is going to be called the iPad? If so......EPIC LOL and to quote thousands of observers "sounds like a tampon" lawl
The rumor is iSlate, not iPad.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#18
Apple will revolutionize the way people use and view tablets
well, we'll see. Apple knows how to make a specific sector interesting just by releasing a specific product and definitely their research is better than mine but somehow I can't see how tablets may become that popular. If Apple does popularize something that people really don't need then my faith in humanity is lost.

actually generate a market for these devices, that lets face it, doesnt exist right now. Then everyone else will try to out do them.

The same happened with the iPod, the same thing happened with the iPhone.
Not really. Ipods were just Apple mp3 players and believe it or not but there were mp3 players before Ipods and they were already popular lol Also I can't see how Ipods made mp3 players any more popular than they were getting before (as mp3 players popularity was rising before ipods).
Actually Ipods weren't revolutionary with any aspect. Every single thing you want - there were other, better mp3 players but they weren't Apple. There were also touchscreen PDA phones before the Iphone. I agree that Iphone was sort of revolutionary though (in a similar fashion as the Motorola Razr). It was nothing new but a bit different, became attractive and inspired other manufacturers.

You watch, the ONLY reason these Android and HP tablets will sell is because Apple will create a demand for tablets and people will want to be "cool" and find alternatives (Casey). But if it wasnt for the fact that Apple will make the tablet a must have device, no one would even care about those alternatives to begin with.
Let's be fair -Android's popularity is backed up by technical and economic (price) superiority, it's rising way faster than Apple's and (generalization coming) Android fans are way more serious about their favorite OS. They are usually people who love software and are often computer geeks; not teenagers who will buy anything that looks cool to them. It's like a giant Linux without any of its biggest flaws. Backed up by one of the most powerful companies. Half of the pro-IT community has its eyes on Android. I can't see how the ONLY reason Android tablets will be popular is because of the Apple one. That statement was totally wrong.

No one right now is saying "oooh I need a tablet," not even you guys in here. But once Apple revolutionizes how people use and feel about tablets, everyone will want one
Well, that's what Apple seems to do best - creating demand for something that isn't any special. It's worse than with 50 cent's album sales. They make everything they do "big", create a hype - look at the situation now. Nobody knows what they are developing except for the fact that it's a tablet.
Great! There are hundreds of tablets by other great companies and dozens are being released this year but this one is from APPLE. You don't know how it will work but all of you already talk about it, are excited about it and know that you'll either buy it or think that it's awesome.
And again - all you know right now is that it's a tablet (a fairly unattractive device) and that it's from Apple.
I hope that now you see how stupid it is and what is the point that me and Casey are trying to make.

In real life a tablet with a tablet os might be quite nice to have for reading or browsing the web/watching videos/pictures but it's not as comfortable as a laptop and it would have to come in a way lower price and that's not happening with Apple. That's why Android tablets will probably be superior - Android is almost free and it works great on mobile devices. So it's a chance for a cheaper alternative for laptops in a slightly different factor with touchscreen capabilities.

Then there are resistive and capacitive touchscreens. Almost all modern tablets and PDAs work on resistive touch screens allowing you to paint on them. Then there are capacitive touch screens - the only technology that supports multi-touch well as it "reads" your finger's electrostatic field. You can't use anything other than your finger to touch though.
Resistive multi-touch sucks balls and nobody really implements it.
So either Apple comes up with a new screen technology, either it won't have any decent multi-touch and have a shitty resistive screen or it will be useless for graphics and painting which was the main reason for most people to buy tablets.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#19
Caesar, I already read the Jef Raskin article that was posted recently on TechCrunch (or Mashable, I forget which one but it popped up in my new articles list on Google Reader)

Also - iSlate has been the name that has been going around for 4-6 weeks now, but in the last 10 days it came out in the news on various tech blogs that Apple had trademarked domain names with the word "iPad" also. They are both pretty stupid names IMO and Apple's insistence on prefixing every fucking thing they make with "i" is getting annoying now, and reminding people of some sort of Fisher Price shit - anything Apple make that is prefixed with 'i' is starting to get looked at as childish by serious techheads and more and more, the general public. They would do well to abandon it now, as far as new products. It's getting old.

I was going to reply to your other posts but Masta basically just said everything I was going to say anyway.

Apple's deal is taking technologies that already exist and presenting them with their own UI's and marketing them as being new and revolutionary. You should know this - I'm sure you know Rukas when he had a Sidekick, and therefore you should know that the Sidekick/Hiptop was the first device to have an inbuilt application catalogue, since way back in 2002. But 5 years later, Apple does the same thing and tries to tell everyone that it's some awesome new idea that nobody has ever done before and their fanboys eat those lies up and continue to spew them out, because everything that comes out of Steve Jobs' mouth is gospel to them. The App store is not the only example, in fact Apple are getting sued by Nokia right now over many things included in the iPhone that were ripped off from things that Nokia holds the patents for.

Also, I've wanted a tablet for a while, before I was even aware that Apple were making one. There was talk of Android tablets this time last year when they were first being developed, I wanted one back then and I still want one now, but it's not a "must-have" device, and that's not going to change no matter what Apple do with theirs. The real decision, at least on my part, will come a year from now when there's more software specifically targeted for tablet users....as right now there is none.

What Apple are trying to do here (IMO) is to lock down content providers to be able to effectively replace newspapers, the way that hardware such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook (which runs Android is selling shitloads) have replaced books for many people).

But I'm not so sure that will work. The big names that they're trying to lock in will charge Apple for their content (this is what i'm hearing) and Apple (as usual) will resell at a higher price. The trouble is that nobody is interested in paying for content anymore. Why should they, when there are countless free news sites and blogs? Almost everyone I know just subscribes to their favorite RSS feeds using their browsers and things like Google Reader.

The people that DO read newspapers/magazines aren't suddenly going to subscribing digitally just like that. Maybe over time, but not for a couple of years at least.

The iPod hit at the right time for there to be a 'face' to the MP3 player technology, when the mass public was just starting to really switch from CD's to MP3's, just like Sony hit at the right time with the Walkman back in the 80's.

I don't see the 'gap' in the market for what Apple are trying to do here. Hey, I could be wrong. But we'll see.
 

Rukas

Capo Dei Capi
Staff member
#20
masta, put it this way. No kid asks Santa for a mp3 player, they all ask for an iPod. It's like Coke. People dont ask for Cola they ask for Coke.

Caesar is right, Apple made it a necessity to have one, before that it was a niche market.

I think easy to use tablets have a great potential.

It's like in Scifi movies, digital news papers and stuff. Id rather have all my subscriptions come to one device and then use it to flip through pages.

The ease of use means I can get it for old people who arent tech savy and have them read the paper on it. Unlike a traditional tablet which is a PC and you need to know how to use a PC to run it. In my opinion that is where Windows based tablets fail, at the end of the day you're right masta, I'd rather a laptop.

But if Apple manage to make it something else, and not a laptop substitute, I think it can become a way of the future.

An easy touch screen device, that I can hand on a wall if I want, do a video conference with my mother on, she can flip through recipes, news paper pages, do some simple browsing, and it's all as easy to use as an iPhone? I see that becoming very successful.

At the end of the day, when it comes to sales, ease of use is more important than technical specs.

[youtube]oZwKPDvYA2M[/youtube]

Imagine that on a large scale.

Nothing else on the market has such ease of use and thus potential applications for every day people who dont want another laptop, they want something ELSE.

I think that is where Apple are headed with it, and really, it is a great idea.

Like I said, Id love to get all of my magazine subscriptions digitally in the future, but still make it easy to read them in bed or on the can. I HATE reading books on my macbook or phone. But if it was bigger, and I could just FLIP through pages, I think that is a lot more accessible for people, it bridges old technology and habits with cutting edge tech and I think that is great.


I am SURE there will be more powerful Android based or Windows 7 based tablets, but I just think more people will connect with an iSlate then a PC style tablet.
 

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