Seen from outside, Apple has two very different operating systems - PCs (Macintosh) and iPod/iPhone. I haven't got this wrong have I? The mobile OS is generally more limited and odoesn't run grown-up applications, just toy things called "apps" that sell for a pocket-money price.

Oh, I suppose they still own the Classic software.

The hardware rumours are PC class, and technically you could just install whichever endangered big cat species they're selling now onto touchscreen portable PC hardware - and get sued to heck. So a slate Stupid-PC seems unlikely. But Apple managed to sell a "plays your music at random" media device and almost managed to make that a positive feature (your music library is exciting again! In fact, terrifying!) So they probably believe they could just enlarge iPhones in a Xerox machine and they'd sell too.

"...funny is that nobody really knows what apple's 'tablet' is going to be, how much it's going to cost, what os it's going to run on"

I'm pretty sure only Hexx doesn't know what OS it will be running. Dumbass.
Ubuntu, Windows 7 ??????
Apple has their own OS, why would they use anything different ?

Thanks for the laugh

Microsoft tried a Tablet. They've been around forever. They are only viable in certain business segments, otherwise, no one wants them. Who's going to pay $1,000 for a tablet? Rich pompous Mac users. Who's going to buy the Vole's tablet? No one. Forgetaboutit.

Right, all of those who aren't interested on tablets fine, door's at the back.

Those who think Apple makes overpriced junk, same door please.

Look, here's what gonna happen. First, get over the idea or comparing it with a netbook. IT WILL NOT BE A NETBOOK-alike.

If there is one think we should all have learnt by now is that over the last 10 years Apple may not come up with new technology BUT they come up with infrastructures, business models and product improvements that make an idea into an industry. They make the product irresistible and they make the reasons for buying it not just attractive but actually make sense and they way they sell is in plain english and simple. This is a very big difference to the majority or other manufacturers in most industries. Aspiration, Simplicity and Compulsive.

MP3 Player = iPod & iTunes and a respectable face for digital music & media.

Smartphone = iPhone, iTunes, Apps Store and full integration and backup with your PC without hassle.

Before these we had MP3 players that just did your head in and music software that was a pain in the ass. The same goes for Smartphones, no single vision for sensible navigation, everyone doing their own thing and people trying to sell to the nerds in the corner rather than the vast majority of consumers who unsurprisingly also had lots of money but no idea what smart-phones were all about.

The Tablet will be the same thing. It will introduce a sector of the market that didn't want an overpriced underpowered laptop with no keyboard to a world of iPhone+ computing. They will easily understand the simple principles of touch interaction and the idea of an app based ecosystem from the iPhone but will easily adopt the extra features a larger, more powerful form factor will offer.

iTunes will become more popular as the screen size will be attractive to people who want to watch stuff and as a consequence iTunes will grow even bigger.

Electronic subscription publishing may be the next big market to take off on the back of this as well, Screw the kindle, too little too late. The big money will be getting magazine publishing houses onboard and a new type of 'print media' market could be just round the corner.

Trying to compare the tablet materially with what others are offering is pointless. It's not the hardware it's much more than that these days and we all know it. It's all about building a guilded cage that's just too nice to leave. Google are doing it with their software and tying in their phone, Apple are doing it with their iStuff and poor old M$ are still trying to work out what went wrong.

For those who bash apple, just imagine the shite awful world we would live in if there was nothing but Windows. Industrial design ethics would be last on the list still, interaction would still suck and simple tasks would still have too many steps in them. Thank Apple for at least making the big boys take stock and realise that the consumer not only wants choice be actually craves it and will always choose what they think suits their needs best if given a choice.

Could not be more "meh" if it tried.

I need something to hold up my swag.

You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tablets in their eyes
But the ribbon don't care

As a href="http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2010/01/05/john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-apple-again-slate-and-the-administration--terrorism.aspx" JohnTantillo pointed out on his last blog post /a , there's a good reason that Apple has been able to get so much positive buzz over this yet-to-be-released product: it has a great track record of producing superior products that people want.

Microsoft cannot generate that kind of excitement..also due to their track record...

Smartphone (dumbed down smartphone) and mp3 player (iphone without phone).

Apple is smoke and mirrors, people.

With campy industrial design.

Apple had a tablet in 1979. OK, so it was an input device (http://www.edibleapple.com/the-first-apple-tablet-from-1979/), and they had a number of prototypes designed for what we would now call a tablet, but did not have anything that they felt was ready for prime time. Apple had learned its lesson that being first to a market (PDAs w/ the Newton) does not guarantee anything if you are not offering something new, unique, useful and/or desirable and preferably a combination of these. What will differentiate the Apple tablet is not the hardware, but the software and the media partnerships. This will give Apple's device a utility advantage over the competition. Today's Apple chooses what markets to compete in and its choice is based primarily on being able to be the perceived leader in a segment (though not necessarily in market share) and be able to make a tidy profit.

I USED TO KNOW A GUY WHO BOUGHT ONE OF THE ORIGINAL NEWTONS. HE WAS AN ID10T.

What did you expect ?

Everyone in the inside knows that the tablet, *right now*, is just a gimmick to get more brand recognition and developer support. When tablets are transparent and weigh a few ounces (and foldable!!) then maybe they will be big, but right now they will be a niche device made for the news.

The big space right now is the mobile space. The untapped potential is incredible with smartphones and MIDs. Only a very small percentage of the world's populace use one. The tablet, right now, is just a way to build the future ecosystems for smartphones and MID's.

Windows beat Apple to the tablet by about a decade, but that category has failed miserably because tablets were underpowered, too big/heavy too expensive, too battery sucking and MS didn't customize the OS enough to make a tablet actually enjoyable to use.

If the Apple tablet is going to succeed, it will probably have to be powerful enough and cheap enough to replace the low-end MacBooks. No one is going to buy a MacBook, an iPhone and a tablet. Steve Jobs himself famously asked what a tablet was good for besides surfing internet while you're on the crapper. Apple won't come out with just an overgrown iPod or tablet MacBook. That would fail miserably. A tablet really needs to be something entirely new.

I've got one word for you...."Newton".

Folks seem to forget Bill Gates pitching Tablet PC and the HP TC 1XXX series hardware. The Tablet interface really only works when you have an environment optimized for it, such as an application that uses drop-down selections.

Tablets just don't work for me. I've tried them for years. I can type a hell of a lot faster than I can write...and I can read my typing.

Why would any Microsofty care whether Ballmer's Bunch announced a tablet computer? From what I gather, Windows users are so in love with their netbooks because they have keyboards and are ever so cheap, that those users would never dream of buying a tablet. To them, the netbook is the epitome of portable computing.

Besides, Microsoft has already tried a number of times to make their tablets go mainstream and failed miserably. If Microsoft just read some of the Windows blogging sites, they'd find out for themselves that the high-tech Windows people can't be sold on tablets, especially high-priced ones. So in effect, any tablet Microsoft or HP comes up with that costs over $600 will be an instant failure. Lack of a keyboard plus higher price equals no sales to Windows users.

Only Apple will be able to sell tablets because loyal Apple consumers are willing to spend plenty of money on anything with an Apple logo. The difference in clientele is the main reason why Apple will succeed with a tablet and Microsoft won't.

So if Microsoft announces a tablet, just place it next to the Zune HD and WinMo 6.x smartphones as more items that Microsoft can't manage to sell.

Did you clowns miss the years of Scoble hyping the "tablet PC" for the Empire?

Microsoft shipped it years ago. So what? If Apple makes a tablet, they're going to show the industry how it should have been done in the first place, just like they did with the iPod and the iPhone.

Microsoft has already made tablets. How is them making another one news?

And it could be Apple.

Sorry Nick, king of the Apple haters.

I am sick of all the rumors and talk about something I have no use for. Maybe by this time next year it will all be forgot and we can talk about something is really here and really works like this one.
http://gizmodo.com/5440901/229-vacuum-tube-amplifier-wows-audiophiles
I am already saving for 2 of these!

HP got tablets right years ago with the TC1100. Yes it maybe dated now, but then again its pretty ancient now. All HP really needs to do is make the old TC1100 thinner with a led screen and such, give it capacitive touch, give it an Atom and make it overall thinner and it's sorted.

While Apples idiotic fanboi's will no doubt be running around proclaiming that Apple "invented the tablet" like they invent/rehash everything they ever do. Will be nice to see HP come back with a nice smaller version of the old TC.

Anyhow, back to my Samsung Q1...which oddly enough is also a tablet (UMPC), and oddly enough gets mistaken often as a PSP...it just runs proper software is all!

Why did MS go with HP? They make notoriously mediocre hardware that not many people are fans of. I expect to see a lot of hardware failures. As for these tablets? I can't really see that they'll be successful. What will they offer that notebooks and netbooks don't offer, other than a touch screen? Without the keyboard to protect the screen I can also see damage being an issue.

as a happy user of Windows Tablet PC's for 6 years - YES 6 YEARS....

all I can say is...Apple are already late to the party

I do hope its a good one though - cant have enough tablets in my life..;)

They obviously waited until the tablet OS was complete and tested before setting the hardware manufacturer. Apple on the other hand will do both at the same time and as a result you get the 27" MAC fiasco :P

And that is why they sat on it for 14 months not simply because if Apple does it we do it thats just big headed Apple users :P who are going to be in a shock when Android become more popular than there beloved Iphone :P

it's funny to watch other companies... there were few rumors that apple will release a tablet and suddenly everybody wants to release a tablet. what were all these companies doing before these rumors appeared? nothing... waiting for apple to release something so they can copy it. funny is that nobody really knows what apple's 'tablet' is going to be, how much it's going to cost, what os it's going to run on and what group of customers it's targeted on. but 'heey, apple is preparing a tablet, let's make one too'. i'm sure that when (if) apple will release its 'tablet' it's not going to be anything like these products, that's for sure :) and i'm sure Nick will get a chance to review it ;)

Does Ballmer lack confidence? He sat on his slate for 14 months, waiting to see what Apple would do. Did he just want to check if he was going in the right direction? Only a monopolist could behave like this and get away with it.

And what will the OEMs think of Ballmer's slate? Will the Microsoft slate sit in stores right next to the other OEM's slates?

And where the hell is Windows Mobile 7? Is this just a diversion from the real issue? Reading the Toronto Star this morning, a story by journalist Dave Olive describes WinMo7 as 'D.O.A.' - Dead on arrival.

So therefore, a slate will be the perfect diversion. I can imagine Ballmer now. When asked, where's WinMo? He just says "nothing up my sleeve, hey look, a slate!" Gets good headlines. Everyone forgets about the phone OS.