Apple Netbook Confirmed?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Abecedary

But I thought it was supposed to be announced in October and released in Q1 2010? Are you telling me all that speculation was wrong?!? Now I don't know what to believe...

Analysts and reporters have proclaimed that the Apple Tablet will be released RSN since, uh, 2001 or so....

If Apple had ever actually said they were going to release one, it'd be the biggest piece of vaporware since Duke Nukem Forever.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

If Apple had ever actually said they were going to release one, it'd be the biggest piece of vaporware since Duke Nukem Forever.

I don't get your meaning. Has Apple ever said they were going to release something and then didn't? As a matter of fact, I think the only product Apple ever pre-announced was the iPhone. (OS X upgrades not withstanding).

BOb

[Sonist]

From Gizmodo, more on the subject:

"... Steve Jobs said people don't read any more. But Apple is talks with several media companies rooted in print, negotiating content for a "new device." And they're not just going for e-books and mags. They're aiming to redefine print.

Several years ago, a modified version of OS X was presented to Steve Jobs, running on a multitouch tablet. When the question of "what would people do with this?" couldn't be answered, they shelved it. Long having established music, movie and TV content, Apple is working hard to load up iTunes with print content from several major publishing houses across several media.

Two people related to the NYTimes have separately told me that in June, paper was approached by Apple to talk about putting the paper on a "new device." The R&D labs have long worked on versions of the paper meant to be navigated without a keyboard or mouse, showing up on Windows tablets and on multiple formats using Adobe Air. The NYTimes, of course, also publishes via their iPhone application. Jobs has, during past keynotes, called the NYTimes the "best newspaper in the world."

A person close to a VP in textbook publishing mentioned to me in July that McGraw Hill and Oberlin Press are working with Apple to move textbooks to iTunes. There was no mention of any more detail than that, but it does link back to a private Apple intern idea competition held on campus, in their Town Hall meeting area in 2008, where the winning presentation selected by executives was one focused on textbook distribution through iTunes. The logic here is that textbooks are sold new at a few hundred dollars, and resold by local stores without any kickbacks to publishers. A DRM'd one-time-use book would not only be attractive because publishers would earn more money, but electronic text books would be able to be sold for a fraction of the cost, cutting out book stores and creating a landslide marketshare shift by means of that huge price differential. (If that device were a tablet, the savings on books could pay for the device, and save students a lot of back pain.)

Apple also recently had several executives from one of the largest magazine groups at their Cupertino's campus, where they were asked to present their ideas on the future of publishing. Several mockups of magazines were present in interactive form. It is presumed that more talks took place after the introduction and investigatory meeting. Some magazine company is also considering Adobe Air as a competing option for digital magazines, but without a revenue/distribution system that iTunes has, it seems unlikely.

I haven't heard anything about traditional book publishers being approached yet, but given the scope of the rest of the publishing industry's involvement, it's not hard to imagine they're on board as well. (If you know something, please drop me a line.)

Another source corroborates that the January announce date others have reported is correct within the month, with this information heard from a high level...."

[talaivan]

http://gizmodo.com/5370252/apple-tab...-and-magazines

[Abecedary]

Originally Posted by talaivan

http://gizmodo.com/5370252/apple-tab...-and-magazines

Interesting (to me at least) line from that article: "Some magazine company is also considering Adobe Air as a competing option for digital magazines, but without a revenue/distribution system that iTunes has, it seems unlikely."

First, I'm assuming that line should read 'companies', because I work for a magazine company that's been moving their back-issue system to one built on Adobe Air. I wonder if they're talking about us...

[WT Sharpe]

Looks like Apple is going to have some major competition. A video has surfaced of the Microsoft Courier Touchscreen Tablet, and it looks interesting.

http://vimeo.com/6820724

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Looks like Apple is going to have some major competition. A video has surfaced of the Microsoft Courier Touchscreen Tablet, and it looks interesting.

http://vimeo.com/6820724

Yeah, something that can do what shown in that video is exactly the type of device I'm interested in for my academic work. That looks awsome and hopefully something that works like that comes out in the reasonably near future.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Yeah, something that can do what shown in that video is exactly the type of device I'm interested in ... hopefully something that works like that comes out in the reasonably near future.

And hopefully reasonably priced!

[dmaul1114]

I'm sure it will be steep initially--but I'd prefer to wait a couple generations for the kinks to be worked out anyway.

But it's good to see that such technology is being developed.

That just looked awesome. Ability to flip through pages just like real pages, stylus to mark up documents and use for note taking. Easy search to find documents, notes etc.

I'd use the hell out of something like that as it would always be on my desk and getting carried most everywhere.