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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Tech Re: Would You Buy the Apple Tablet?

Posted by Anthony Hecht on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 4:36 PM

I'm as intrigued as anyone about what Apple may (or may not) announce tomorrow, but I'm particularly intrigued—and a bit confused—by the amped up speculation happening today, much of it based on this NYT article.

Particularly odd is the following section, which lays out pretty specific specs for this not-yet-released product:

Part of the media industry’s high hope for the tablet comes from descriptions of the device from analysts and others who have been briefed on it.

It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.

There's another quote attributed to "a person who has seen the device and is familiar with Apple’s marketing plan for it, but who did not want to be named because talking about it might alienate him from the company."

Apple is one of the most secretive consumer product companies in the world. If these attributions are true, this would be a MAJOR shift in the way they do things. Alienated? If this guy was named he'd probably have to go into the Witness Protection Program.

Since when does Apple brief anybody outside a very small inner circle, let alone "analysts and others" on future products? When the iPhone came out, a vanishingly small number of people had ever seen the device. It's highly likely that anyone who had seen it (game developers, accessory makers) had signed an aggressive NDA. Most of the people writing the software for it hadn't even seen it, but suddenly they're briefing analysts and random other people with friends at the Times?

Weird, I tells ya.

Comments (13) RSS

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Apple has been doing controlled leaks of their products for years:

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/h…

That's how the manage to get the hype machine going. If they were really secretive, we wouldn't be talking about any new Mac products until they were announced.

Posted by Mike in Olympia on January 26, 2010 at 4:56 PM

Apple's clever at controlling the specs of products; but I think the 'briefing' aspect of all of this is a change in strategy so that when the Tablet comes out there will be a multitude of services/entertainment options for it. So that it quickly expands in popularity with netbook users, e-book afficionados, and more importantly, students: case in point, the most official leak of the tablet's debut tomorrow comes from a book publisher-- http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/m…

Steve Jobs will be mad. Only for a bit, because but I'm sure he planned for the secrecy amongst a growing number of execs to reach critical mass, until somebody leaked...

Posted by Vlad on January 26, 2010 at 5:05 PM

Apple tablets

Collect them all!

http://www.franklinmint.com/

Just like these Royal Treatment Dolls:

http://www.franklinmint.com
/subcategory.aspx
?sid=2&category_id=211

Posted by Enfu Mercial on January 26, 2010 at 5:06 PM

It's actually nothing that we are expecting: It's an Leopard OS Operated Refrigerator!!!!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on January 26, 2010 at 5:30 PM

@4: With plenty of room for your frozen spinning pizzas.

Posted by Telsa Grills on January 26, 2010 at 5:36 PM

"have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display,"

I'm sorry but this is supposed to be exciting? 3G for laptops isn't exactly new and a tablet is essentially a laptop with a touchscreen... also not new.

Posted by lj99 on January 26, 2010 at 5:44 PM

"If this guy was named he'd probably have to go into the Witness Protection Program."

or if he were a factory employee in China, would probably be dead:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21…
.

Posted by josh

on January 26, 2010 at 7:30 PM

Unlike the iPhone, Steve Jobs needs to be able to bring up Hearst, Conde Nast, etc to share the stage at tomorrows event. They need partners with content ready to go at launch.

Posted by rschroed

on January 26, 2010 at 8:29 PM

Here's a roundup of pretty much all rumours concerning the tablet:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/26/the-…

Posted by Simone on January 26, 2010 at 11:14 PM

Mac rumors are the silliest thing, just wait for the damn thing to hit shelves, and hope it has a warranty.

Posted by watchout5

on January 26, 2010 at 11:53 PM

@10 right-o about the warranty. I love using my iMac. I have not loved replacing the mother board three times in three years. Never had to do that on my PCs.

Posted by PA Native on January 27, 2010 at 12:23 AM

It'd be interesting if it had e-ink like the kindle. Without that, I'm not very interested.

Posted by i already have an iphone on January 27, 2010 at 12:42 AM

@11, I had to get the motherboard (also the video card) replaced in my Dell XPS three times. It died a fourth and final time just after the warranty ran out.

Posted by Peter F on January 27, 2010 at 8:20 AM