Mac Tablet/Mega iPod Touch due fall 2009 who knows when
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Today's Apple-product rumor comes from TechCrunch: a seven- or nine-inch iPod Touch, to be released in the fall of 2009.
The CrunchieFolk don't offer any hard proof of this impending Fat Man to the iPod Touch's Little Boy, other than claiming they received their information "from three independent sources close to Apple" and that "prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources."
This iPod Venti would be, essentially, the fulfillment of many years of tablet-Mac rumors. Here are but a few that have graced the web:
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eWEEK, November 2002, "Waiting for the Mac Tablet":
"It's my strong belief - let's call it a hunch - that prototype Mac tablets are already making the rounds among select developers."
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Engadget, May 2005, "Apple's patented the Tablet Mac"
"[Tablet-Mac rumors] became substantiated today when Apple's secret plans for a tablet PC were ... revealed.
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CutMeLoose.com, May 2005, "Apple Tablet PC sightings"
"I have no less than 5 sources saying an Apple Tablet announcement is due soon."
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Cnet UK, November 2007, "Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus"
"You can bet your bottom dollar [a tablet Mac] is being built as you read this."
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Mac|Life, January 2008, "The Apple Tablet Mac: 8 Reasons It’s Gonna Happen"
"The tablet rumor has been around for the last couple years, but now, all the ducks are in a row."
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ZDNet, May 2008, "Tablet Mac coming this fall"
"A little birdy tells me that Apple will announce a 12 or 13-inch tablet in the fall of this year."
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Wired, July 2008, "Apple to Launch MacBook Touch?"
"The blogosphere is aflutter with rumors of a touchscreen Mac tablet."
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Industry Standard, December 2008, "Apple announces Mac tablet at Macworld 2009?"
"Could this 6 year old rumor finally come true?"
And neither has The Reg been immune to tablet temptations. Witness:
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December 2003, "Delayed tablet Mac to launch next month?"
"Apple's much-rumoured launch of a tablet-style device may come to fruition early next year."
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August 2004, "Euro filing reveals Apple 'handheld computer'"
"Apple may finally be about to bring [the tablet Mac] to market."
But at least we stopped in 2004.
As tempting as it may be to glom onto yet another tablet-Mac rumor, and as enticing as Apple's tablet-oriented patent filings may be, we'll believe in a keyboard-free, bigger-than-an-iPhone, tablet-like iPod or full-scale tablet Mac when we hold one in our cynical little hands.
And there's no Santa Claus, either. ®
COMMENTS
Alright, yeah! Screw the flying cars; where's my Newspad?
It wouldn't come a day too soon: a tablet running OSX with about a 9x12-inch "live" drawing area that'd let me sketch right into Photoshop or Illustrator, or jot notes straight into a text editor, perhaps even with an HDTV receiver built in. Yeah, I know; they had a crack at it once with the Newton, but handwriting recognition sucked, and it was too goddamn' small.
I can't believe how El Reg goes on and on bitching about how they don't have their flying cars yet, when what would be truly cool would be something like the "Newspad" from Kubrick's '2001'.
From the very first time I saw an astronaut watching himself being interviewed on the BBC on one while eating his microwaved space breakfast in '2001', I thought, "Hot damn', I _want_ one of _those_!"
C'mon, Apple; get with the goddamn' program. Where's my friggin' Newspad?
Tablets, is it ?
The only thing to do with tablets is to take two with water when your head hurts from searching for the buttons and keys which you can't find ...... shyt, you have to switch it on .... I know, but the ON/OFF switch is virtual and only appears AFTER it is up and running.
I think I'll stick with my MacBookPro ---- if I need to work with a pen, I have a Bic (4 pence each) and a note book --- if I need to sketch INTO the computer, I do it on paper and simply scan it !
Anyway, the thing understands English, so I can speak and tell it what to do --- leaving my hands free to play with myself in front of the sexiest thing ever to come out of a cardboard box !
Well I have to say...
...that one thing that has put me off going Mac for my day-to-day requirements has been the lack of the tablet form. My last two laptops have been Toshiba Tablet PCs and as I blogged before, that was one of the main deciding factors when spending my dosh.
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