Comments on: Yet more rumors of that 10-inch Apple Tablet: September unveiling? http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/yet-more-rumors-of-that-10-inch-apple-tablet-september-unveiling/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:33:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mike Perry http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/yet-more-rumors-of-that-10-inch-apple-tablet-september-unveiling/comment-page-1/#comment-1115613 Mike Perry Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:54:03 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/03/yet-more-rumors-of-that-10-inch-apple-tablet-september-unveiling/#comment-1115613 While it seems to be intended to do with movies and TV shows what the iPod did to music, a gadget with a screen that's about four times larger than that of an iPhone just begs to be used for more on-the-go business-like purposes. Those uses means it needs a 'real' keyboard, linked either through Apple's special connector or Bluetooth. That could be good news, even for those who never buy it, since Apple will then have a hard time not putting similar Bluetooth drivers on the iPhone/touch. One long-term user complaint could then be checked off. Is it Steve Jobs who creates these weird quirks in Apple's product lines? For far too long Apple pretended that multi-button mice offered no benefit to users. Is a similar obsession with the 'purity' of an interface keeping Apple from blending a touch screen with any other input device? Shipping dates in October/November could mean that Apple will combine in one event the release of a new iPod touch with the announcement of this tablet. Apple would be giving competitors a month or two advance notice, but the increase in Christmas sales might be worth it. That brings up another bit of Apple weirdness. Is there really anything about the upcoming iPod touch that merits all this secrecy? Does whether it'll include a compass like the latest iPhone merit so much hush-hush? All it does is leave developers confused about the value of using that compass in their games for user input. Given its market share, is Apple really affected if competitors, none more than midgets, get a month or two advance notice about a few iPod features? While it seems to be intended to do with movies and TV shows what the iPod did to music, a gadget with a screen that’s about four times larger than that of an iPhone just begs to be used for more on-the-go business-like purposes.

Those uses means it needs a ‘real’ keyboard, linked either through Apple’s special connector or Bluetooth. That could be good news, even for those who never buy it, since Apple will then have a hard time not putting similar Bluetooth drivers on the iPhone/touch. One long-term user complaint could then be checked off.

Is it Steve Jobs who creates these weird quirks in Apple’s product lines? For far too long Apple pretended that multi-button mice offered no benefit to users. Is a similar obsession with the ‘purity’ of an interface keeping Apple from blending a touch screen with any other input device?

Shipping dates in October/November could mean that Apple will combine in one event the release of a new iPod touch with the announcement of this tablet. Apple would be giving competitors a month or two advance notice, but the increase in Christmas sales might be worth it.

That brings up another bit of Apple weirdness. Is there really anything about the upcoming iPod touch that merits all this secrecy? Does whether it’ll include a compass like the latest iPhone merit so much hush-hush? All it does is leave developers confused about the value of using that compass in their games for user input. Given its market share, is Apple really affected if competitors, none more than midgets, get a month or two advance notice about a few iPod features?

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