Wired’s Charlie Sorrel tries to put the record straight as to whether or not Apple will create a new Tablet PC. He says no. After all the years of rumors I think he’s probably right, although I see how Apple could do it and have it fit into its product line.
Here’s what Charlie has to say:
We love the persistence of this rumor, mostly because we would actually buy an oversized iPod Touch device. But we have the feeling that, after an hour or so of playing we’d want to go outside and the oversized iPod Touch wouldn’t fit in our pocket. We further imagine that we’d soon hanker for a proper keyboard to get some work done. The thing is, Apple already makes a tablet PC, and it is the current iPod Touch.
First, I think he’s wrong about the size issue. There’s still a need for a sit down on the couch at home or Starbuck’s type Tablet PC-slash-iPod-ish thing that’s better tuned for longer term reading than the current generation of iPods or iPhones. Let’s all agree. The current size of the display on the iPhone and iPod Touch is too small for extensive comfortable reading. It’s just too small. So Apple could release an iPod Touch with a larger display and this would fit the needs of many of us as a “Tablet”. Let’s call it an iPod Tablet. Think about it. You wouldn’t have to change much.
Of course, if you’re going to go to the trouble of making a larger display and form factor, you might as well add some new features that are appropriate on it. I’ll leave that up to your and Apple’s imagination collectively to figure out what this is. (If you can’t think of anything, I’ll take a better camera 🙂 ).
So how much larger does the display need to be? I’d at least double it. You don’t want to go too large because then the device would get too heavy and consume too much power, but there’s some balance point here I’m sure that’ll work well for many.
I don’t think a physical keyboard is needed on an oversized iPod Touch either–at least no more so that it’s needed in the current device. We’re talking about something that’s going to be primarily used for reading and browsing and consuming content and experiences. It just needs a larger display, because quite frankly the existing devices have small devices, which aren’t a big deal for audio-biased devices. However, the more you start using them for reading, the more you want a larger display. A keyboard? Not so much. The current onscreen keyboard will suffice.
Charlie goes on to rightly point out that price is going to be an issue:
The other problem would be price. How much would Apple charge for a tablet? It would have to be a lot more than the Touch, itself already an expensive little device at the high, 32GB end. What would you pay? $800? $1000? That’s a little too much for such a specialist computer.
He’s right if you look at this in the classic sense of pricing. However, if Apple positions the device as a larger iPod Touch and incrementally brings down the cost of the older devices, there’s probably not a big price issue. Maybe add another $100 for a larger display?
Yes, this assumes that prices will fall for previous generation devices, but I think this is reasonable.
Lastly, I agree with Charlie that in many respects the iPod Touch (and I’d add iPhone) are pretty good Tablets. However, the expression of these Tablets is different than anything that Microsoft and its partners is doing. That’s fine. Microsoft can own “Tablet PCs” and Apple can own the “Tablet as device” category. You see, I think think Apple has carved out an interesting niche for itself were it to launch a Tablet, uhm, I mean larger iPod Touch as I’ve outlined here.
Oh, and just think about the possibilities here in terms of the App Store. With the ease of installing apps on a device like this, can you see how the world of iPod and iPhone development would continue to grow? I can. And as a user I sure wouldn’t mind browsing for cute little apps that make my iPod Tablet sing–maybe quite literally. Who knows.
All this being said, I do now kind of agree with Charlie Sorrel that an Apple Tablet is unlikely. It’s too obvious to do and the fact that Apple hasn’t released one or talked about it by now suggests that Apple is for some reason not wanting to do it. Might this change with customer demands? Possibly. However, I’ve decided not to hold my breath. If Apple does release one, I’ll be in line Day 1 to get it though.