Jan 26
McGraw-Hill’s CEO stated on CNBC that their textbooks will be available of the Apple iSlate:
“Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now — we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”
This statement seems to confirm that the iSlate will run on the iPhone OS which had been previously speculated (Apple iSlate Reviews – September 28th, 2009).
Tagged with: iPhone • OS • textbook
Jan 22
Some have expressed concern over the impact that the new Apple iSlate could have on the mobile infrastructure. Comparisons have been drawn to the manner in which the iPhone has put a strain on mobile broadband. However, according to AllThingsD, there are several reasons why this should not be the case with the new iSlate:
1) A higher reliance on Wi-Fi networks as the device may be intended for primary use in homes, offices, and other locations where a wireline network may be leveraged.
2) Due to price among other things, the adoption of the iSlate should have a much flatter curve than we witnessed with the iPhone. The concern will become more credible later once we get past the early adopters and the masses begin buying the device should it become as successful as the iPhone.
Additionally, the tablet may be designed in such a manner as to mitigate high bandwidth use initially. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett is quoted as saying:
“Streaming video is uniquely demanding traffic, as it is both bandwidth intensive AND latency sensitive. That’s a recipe for disaster. For that reason, it’s unlikely that carriers would invite that type of usage. A large screen tablet would likely rely heavily on download-to-watch-later to sidestep the latency problem, and would almost certainly provide incentives to shift the most bandwidth-intensive applications to the wired network via Wi-Fi.”
He goes on to speculate that it could take 2-3 years before there is critical adoption of the device in order for it to have a real bandwidth impact.
Tagged with: bandwidth • broadband • Wi-Fi
Jan 22
According to Clayton Morris of Fox News, Apple has been talking to AT&T and Verizon regarding the upcoming iSlate, but states that neither carrier has finalized a deal. Multiple carriers for the tablet had been discussed before (Apple iSlate Reviews – January 7th, 2010) but according to Morris additional details were revealed by his sources suggesting that Verizon will use some form of tiered pricing instead of a flat monthly rate.
“According to sources inside Verizon, the company’s version of the tablet will feature built-in Wi-Fi utilizing Verizon’s hotspots for free data; the device will switch onto the 3G cellular network when it’s away from a hotspot. This makes it easy and safe to connect to trusted Wi-Fi servers, and you’ll get a line-item for that data service on your cell bill. Basically you won’t need a home data modem service anymore.”
Tagged with: AT&T • iSlate • tiered • verizon • Wi-Fi
Jan 19
MacRumors’ Arnold Kim reported today that “iPad”, and not the currently rumored “iSlate” (Apple iSlate Reviews – December 25th, 2009), may be the name of the new tablet that Apple is expected to reveal next week.
“A search in the Canadian trademark database reveals that Apple’s dummy corporation Slate Computing, LLC also applied for a trademark for “iPad” under the categories of handheld mobile digital electronic devices with a broad range of applications. This application was filed in July 2009 — much more recently than the original iSlate trademarks which date back to 2006-2007.”
Kim goes on to explain that MacRumors believes Apple to be the underlying source of these trademark applications, hence drawing the conclusion that “iPad” will be the new product’s name.
The DaringFireball.com’s John Gruber does not believe this will be the case:
“I say no. I guess it’s not a bad name in and of itself, but it sounds and looks way too much like “iPod”. (And for what it’s worth, the “ipad.com” domain name is not registered to MarkMonitor, Apple’s preferred domain registration service.)”
If for no other reason, “iPad” may not make the cut because of the memory of this 2006 MadTV sketch:
Tagged with: iPad • MadTV
Jan 08
At least two Taiwanese manufacturers have announced that they are either already shipping components for Apple’s new tablet PC, or will be doing so in February. According to Reuters:
“Suppliers for Apple Inc’s new tablet computer have begun shipping touchscreen panels and will start delivering aluminium casings for it next month, sources said, implying a second-quarter product launch.”
The article went on to express some analysts’ concerns that the new tablets will have stiff competition from existing laptops, netbooks, e-readers, and smartphones. Touchscreen devices released this week at the Consumer Electronics Show by HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, and Dell added to the fray of competing devices that the rumored iSlate will need to beat out in the wireless multimedia computing space.
Tagged with: aluminum casings • concerns • iSlate • manufacturing • Q2 launch • second-quarter launch • shipping • Taiwanese
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