Apple’s latest creation…

Apple is readying for their keynote on January 27th, the upcoming Wednesday. At this keynote/event they are going to release something they call they’re latest creation. But we, the Internet, know better. For a while now there have been these rumors of some sort of tablet device, an iPod Touch on steroids, coming from Apple. The wait is almost over, so after the break I’ve written my expectations and some of the rumors circling the web.

EXPECTATIONS

I’ve been thinking a lot about this tablet thingy, as have a lot of people. This of course makes me have some expectations for the device, things I want to be implemented in the device. I’ve broken it up in some categories, of which you will see some return in the rumors section.

“Latest Creation”
On their invitation Apple has put the text: “Come see our latest creation”. The invitation is also covered with paint splatters. The place where the keynote will be held will also feature this texture, as you can see at the picture above. This makes me think that this tablet could be meant for creative people, maybe not directly or exclusively. But it sure makes sense. If this thing is done right, it could be a great competitor to the tablets that Wacom makes. It would be a hard job, though. I myself would love something like this. I am using a Wacom Bamboo right now and it works great. I have not yet grown into an awesome digital painter, but would sure love to. And when that happens, I’d love a tablet with a screen. It makes it even easier, just the way I like it. There is one problem though. Steve Jobs said something at the keynote for the first generation iPhone. Something about Styluses, there is a funny video of this on YouTube. He basically says that they suck, you lose them and he hates them. But maybe they’ll do this the Apple way, and look at things they dislike and make it into something that blows your mind. After all it would be weird if we had to paint like we were finger painting, wouldn’t it?

Naming
So, what would this thing be called? A few names have been floating around. The most common are, the iSlate, the iPad and the iTablet. To me the iSlate sounds the coolest. The iTablet sounds too generic in my ears, but HP did release a tablet called Slate not so long ago. I would not like it to be named the iPad. It would be too confusing with the iPod, hopefully Apple has also thought about that.

Screen size
For me this tablet needs to have a screen size of around 12 inches. This would be amazing for digital painting, and great for using it as an e-reader. It shouldn’t be too big and not too small. If there are going to be different version, then I hope they make that iPod Touch on steroids a 7″ handheld gaming console. Because that’s what a lot of people are using the current iPod Touch for and a bigger screen wouldn’t hurt. It may be a bit bulky, but maybe, just maybe, Apple knows a solutions to that.

Operating System
For the iPod Touch on steroids, the iPhone OS would be amazing. The App  Store had evolved into a really nice marketplace for big or independent publishers’ games and apps. So there would be no need for asking publishers to learn yet another new language for special games on this “console”, because a lot has already been made for the App Store. For the iPad/iSlate/iTablet, it would be amazing for it to have some sort of modified version of Snow Leopard. This would be the high-end version of this tablet device. I think it would be a shame for the 12″ inch tablet to have the iPhone OS on it. It would limit its possibilities, and that’s not what we want to happen.

Pricing
The pricing will probably be the most important thing for me. The pricing is the only reason I don’t own a 27″ iMac right now, and I am hoping so hard that the pricing for this “thing” won’t suck. We all now that Apple’s products are pretty expensive. Me, personally, would love for this thing to be around the $500, for me in the Netherlands that would be €500. That would be an amazing price, in my opinion. It may seem naive, but I think Apple needs to have something cheaper. Yes, they have the iPhone/iPod Touch, but they need to have something in the lines of an high-end netbook, if that exists.

iPhone OS 4.0
I don’t own an iPhone, but from a bystanders point of view, it isn’t hard to see what’s missing. Hopefully Apple will say something about the next update for the iPhone, iPod Touch and maybe even for the new tablet. If they do, it would be cool of them to implement some kind of real multitasking solution. Some improvements or new things to the interface would be nice. Backgrounds anyone? Flash would of course also be an amazing thing to add, though Apple is being difficult about that.

RUMORS

A lot of things have been said about this tablet and event. None of it has been confirmed, but we will not have to wait a whole lot longer.

Features
Apple had filed a patent on some sort of way to give tactile feedback when you type on a multi-touch, or touch device. It is a really nice idea, and the practical way of getting it done seems really futuristic. Which is amazing by the way. There have also been rumors about it having a OLED screen, this would be amazing, because that way you don’t only have a 12″ screen but also a damn fine 12″ screen with nice contrast and dark, dark blacks. Some also mention a camera at the front of the device, this could then be used for communication through things like iChat for instance.

Various
Words have also spread about another build of the device. A build that has actually morphed with their iMac line. There has been talk of an iMac with multi-touch capabilities. This sounds really cool, but I am skeptical of Apple actually announcing this just yet. Of course in the future this could be done, touch is clearly the future, but right now touch in the iMac would be kind of an overkill. It would make it hard for people to decide. There are even words saying Apple is going to announce the next generation iPhone together with the end of exclusivity for AT&T as a “One More Thing”. This would be a nice surprise, but lets not get our hopes too high.

CONCLUSION

These are my expectations and some of the rumors on the Internet. I sure am excited about this new thing from Apple, and hopefully they didn’t fool us. Wouldn’t it be funny if they didn’t announce the tablet? I would love to see the faces of all the journalists in the room. Priceless. Well hopefully you liked the read, all that is left is wait and see what they made out of this thing. After the event I’ll make a video on the things they discussed, so stay tuned !