The rumors have persisted for years, since the demise of the Newton, but it looks like this time it’s for real. What would a ~ 10" iTouch mean for Unity devs?
One of the most interesting possibilities to me is what Apple is calling “Project Cocktail”, a plan to bundle art, liner notes and video with music into some kind of interactive “album” app, to be viewed on the new device. Why not Unity content as well? 2D graphics, text, video, audio - it’s all so last millenium. Soon, the cool bands will be creating immersive worlds for fans to experience, not just old-fashioned web pages.
I’m also excited about the possiblity of a new device from Apple. I’m hoping the rumors are correct and we will be seeing it soon. Sounds like the type of device that could be a real game changer… I’m picturing it to be as simple to use as the iPhone/Touch but with a screen large enough to actually compete with disktop computers. I think it could be “computer enough” for most people and simple enough that even people who are afraid of computers will accept it. … But what I’m really excited about is selling Unity built games on it via the App Store!
I find the idea of such a device both interesting and wondersome at the same time.
What exactly is it good for, is there really a need for such a device which is between iPod touch and sub notebooks? Sure tech geeks would buy it but i still wonder what they´d use it for
Years ago when Microsoft first announced their tablet pc push i was quite interested in those, mostly for being able to draw nicely on the screen, but the price of the devices seemed hilarious and overall i think they never made it big in the market. Apple surely knows how to do such devices in slick way with more usability, so it may be interesting, even if its less useful for why i most wanted such a device.
(Multitouch with the way apple has its iPod/iPhone screen is way less ideal for painting than pressure sensitive touch screens)
A beefed up music album display though?
sounds like someone was desperate to find “the one usp app which its good for”.
I think overall it may be interesting to basically allow what the iPhone/iPod touch is good for but with larger screen.
Things i also wonder about are controls (since many variations of touch and tilt controls may be less appropriate when the device is getting bigger in dimensions than an iphone) and whether current app store apps would run automatically on it and would get upscaled automatically or whether app developers would have to upload updates of their apps that are resolution independant or catered to the different resolution especially.
I’d expect a 1280x800 resolution on the display, to support HD video, and that it will switch to 480x320 on demand or have some way of supporting legacy iphone apps. I’m sure you’ll have to update legacy apps to support higher resolution, but we can hope that will just be a new setting in Unity (2.5.1?).
Touch typing on 10inch virtual keyboard sounds a lot easier than hunting/pecking on the iphone 4inch version, and I’d guess good handwriting recognition will be supported too.
Amazon has proven the viability of an ebook reader with the Kindle, and the iTablet(?) would have a better, color screen. I think this form factor will be extremely useful, better for games, apps, movies, input, and books, although not so much for a pocket size phone. By all accounts, the Steve has been mulling the perfect size for this thing for years, to get the design just right.
of course all our talk is speculation at this point based on the rumors floating around but yeah, overall i think most of your thoughts sound reasonable.
I just don´t agree that its ideal as ebook reader to the degree of being a great kindle replacement thing cause the iPhone type screen tech is not as relaxing on the eyes as the kindle eink stuff.
People would surely still use it as ebook reader anyway, no matter if its more ideal for it or not regarding being relaxing for the eyes, cause, well, they also download lots of ebooks on the iPhone even despite the small screen.
Maybe it already has some negative impact on kindle sales that people meanwhile realized amazon executes on the policy of them being able to remove any bought content from a kindle afterwards or maybe its that people just do as much as possible with the device they carry around everywhere.
(That´s the one big downside i see for this device, i don´t think it would be carried around as much as an iPhone and therefore then maybe also not used as much, will be interesting to see).
Regarding what you said on typing being nicer than on iPhone, hm, not sure, i actually meanwhile got used to the iphone keyboard a lot and can type with two fingers quickly while holding the device halfway comfortably, feels like that could become trickier to pull off with a bigger device unless one puts it down somewhere to type.
Maybe it comes with a pen that works fine with apple´s touch tech though, that could be useful for some things, although apple seems to like the no pen required way.
I’m sceptical. There are too many user interface problems still unsolved for such a device (mostly on the input side) and I doubt that Apple would go into a market that simply doesn’t exist. Look at the netbook market - where’s all the hype now? Looks like Steve was right.
Have to disagree, here. Having to have a light around you is a royal pain. Whatever benefits come from not having a backlight are easily outweighed by the fact that you can’t use it anywhere, to me.
Laptops really aren’t that great for surfing on because they have to sit in your lap and are heavy and bulky. Desktops are way too dedicated to one space. iPhones and iPod Touches are super portable but too tiny to look at and get versatile control and feedback from.
A tablet could sit in the middle as the ultimate portable internet… for around the home, lounging about in public places like parks, and around some kinds of work places.
I could see myself propping it up in the kitchen for recipes (very awkward with both laptops and iPhones), carrying it around to control electronics in the home; stereos, tv, lights. Sprawling on the couch and gaming or surfing. Whipping it out to check movie times, upcoming weather or double checking the route to where I’m going. It’s better for all these things because it would be FAR more casual to read off the larger screen, harder to lose, and easier to interact with via larger interfaces.
As much as those are the reasons I’d personally value it – and I have some killer game ideas to go with it – I’m VERY curious how Apple intends to convince people that they need it.
I personally see computers for general use heading towards the direction of a tablet like this, while desktop computers are relegated to the professional space and prosumers only. In my estimation the biggest hurdle is flexible and accurate input options.
That’s exactly why I like laptops. They prop themselves up without extra junk behind them. (How is that awkward in the kitchen?) I have used “laptops” as my “desktop” for several years now, and also use them to watch videos, with them sitting in front of me on a futon lounger.
I think the iphone/itouch interface conventions are pretty good, although I’m sure they’ll evolve. But I don’t see how the device being bigger (although it will probably still weigh only a few ounces) creates new problems, with either the interface conventions or the accelerometer input. Seems to me those things would only be improved by a larger, but still extremely portable form. To the extent the iphone/itouch works as a portable media/gaming/surfing device, so should this - perhaps better.
To find it’s market, though, pricing will be important, and since the whole point of this thing is to drive sales through the app store and itunes, Apple will probably be pretty aggressive, but the thing is still likely to be expensive.
I still think that an Apple tablet will be a huge success with regular consumers.
An Apple tablet would, I think, be much more friendly to use… more personal than a “personal” computer. And this is why it will succeed. I think the tablet will do to the entire PC market, what the iPod did to the MP3 (and music) market. I truly believe that in a couple years, most non-techie consumers will be happily dumping their old computers because they realize that the “desktop pc”, with all of its faults, has gone the way of the VCR.
The only people who will continue using desktops and laptops will be the producers… i.e. programmers.
How about the extra junk out in front.
The screen has to be in an L formation to read it and the base takes up a large amount of space. When set down on a counter, to read it from above, you need to lean the screen back taking up more space. Plus: crumbs in the keyboard. lol.
I’ve been using a laptop as my main desktop for awhile now, too. It works for the most part, but I’d still enjoy a “casual” device that the tablet might be.
Not to be a total ass but seriously, why is everybody some pumped about stupid touch screens, they just make everything harder to develop for and cutting off more genres. Ok, the ipod touch/Iphone is pretty good but seriously- I’m just not a fan of touch screen gaming!
I’m really excited by this project, as Apple has always matured their concept 100 times before any launch, since a couple of years.
It has to be, at least, interesting.
Now for the speculations, as we witnessed with the 3GS, Apple want to place themselves on the videogame market.
They created a new style of gameplay with touch controls, like dynamic virtual buttons, very contextual player views, etc. Seeing it in action on a wider view would be cool.
So, to make it simple, even a big iPhone would be awesome.
I really am mystified by this. First off, I don’t think there’s any real evidence that apple is working on a tablet. Maybe those old rumors were leaks about the iPhone, but for the most part, everything I see (even the “news” stories) seem fueled by speculation from fans.
Secondly, what’s the compelling reason for a tablet?
There’s no killer app that makes sense.
The lesson Apple learned from the newton was that you needed something small like the palm to fit in your pocket-- and the iPhone /iPod fit that model.
Also, I don’t think the kindle has proven anything. It gets a lot of mindshare but I don’t think its a huge success. I think they’ve sold only a couple million of them, if that.
If Apple’s actually doing one, and I’m wrong, I’m sure they’ve come up with a killer app-- and in a way they did this with the ipone-- mobile web browsing being the killer app-- but I don’t see what the killer app for the tablet would be.
