Rumor: Apple Tablet For $800
Monday morning, personally juicy rumor. Gizmodo floats that Chinese suppliers describe an Apple tablet arriving in October at the price of $800. If true, random thoughts:
- Really hope it runs the full, Mac OS X. I’ve stated before that a tablet running the iPhone OS would be too limiting — it would then just be a huge iPod Touch, and with the Touch around $229, a price jump all the way to $800 makes no sense. But if the tablet could run desktop apps, the price premium suddenly feels justified — even if the hardware isn’t all that much more mighty. Photoshop on a Mac tablet plus touch screen would absolutely rule. Oh, and don’t forget the stealth OS X feature Ink with handwriting recognition from Newton technology.
- There’s room in the Apple product matrix. With the recent updates to the MacBook Pro line, the consumer level “MacBook” has essentially been eliminated save for one plastic, white model at $999. A series of tablets ranging from $800 to $1099 would fill out the Mac portable line.
- Compare with the Mini for more clues. Apple could take the Mini hardware, shove it in this tablet, and then you have the idea of just “bring your own keyboard.” Since the “monitor” is included plus touch screen, there’s your $800 price point. Use the Bluetooth Apple Keyboard if you like.
- Personally, this would end my interest in netbooks, the Kindle, the CrunchPad, and the Google OS.
- Steve’s back; it would be just his style to make his first reappearance at an Apple special event announcing something insanely great.
Anyhow, if true, this is one Apple product I’d figure out a way to purchase as soon as it came out. A while back I was checking out netbooks, but never made a purchase for a variety of reasons which would make a decent post in itself. But the end result is I have an aging MacBook and almost bought the cheapest MacBook Pro when it came out. Drool.