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
Dec 09
Off of Reuters, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Yair Reiner reports that Apple’s supply chain has begun to indicate that manufacturing of the new tablet has begun. Additionally, greater insight has been gained into what is atleast one of the ways in which Jobs plans to market the device, currently rumored to be named “iSlate”:
“Contacts in the US tell us Apple is approaching book publishers with a very attractive proposal for distributing their content… Apple will split revenue 30/70 (Apple/publisher); give the same deal to all comers; and not request exclusivity. We believe the typical Kindle/publisher split is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Kindle is given ebook exclusivity.”
This confirms an earlier post by a Gizmodo writer who had reported:
“Two people related to the NYTimes have separately told me that in June, [they were] approached by Apple to talk about putting the paper on a ‘new device’.”
This could all spell trouble for Amazon’s Kindle.
Tagged with: iSlate • Kindle • manufacturing • publishing • supply chain
Aug 02
A Barrons analyst reports to have seen Apple’s new tablet device claiming that the price range will be between $699-$799. While the analyst remained anonymous, they did go on to suggest that the device would have multi-media features, including gaming and TV options.
Equally interesting, they went on to suggest that other device developers are halting manufacturing of new tablets until the Apple product is released. This implies that customers are not the only ones that are dying of curiosity to see if Apple can reinvent the tablet concept, and that manufacturers are hesitant to invest into a competing product before Apple potentially ‘changes the game’ (again).
Tagged with: Barrons • gaming • manufacturing • price • size • TV
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