Gizmodo
Following the new iMac, Apple's portable platform is probably next for a redesign, with 9to5mac pointing at the long-fabled ultra-slim MacBooks and now AppleInsider mumbling about the Son-of-Newton. According to them, it will be a 720x480-screen PDA 1.5 times the size of the iPhone, running an embedded version of Mac OS X. With the PDA industry dying and Apple focusing on current product lines, does it make sense to release such a product? We think it doesn't. If anything, our guess is that Apple may choose to marry touch technology with down-to-Earth thinner notebooks for a better, far-reaching product: the MacBook touch.
The rumored Son-of-Newton and the always-coming MacTablet are projects that have been in prototype form around Cupertino for years. However, it hasn't been until now that the iPhone has proven that the masses are ready for devices that use finger multi-touch as the main input device (as opposed to Microsoft stylus-based TabletPCs.)
AppleInsider says that this reduced Newton-inspired slate computer/PDA/multimedia thingamabob exists, running a special version of Mac OS X. We believe that there may be such a product in the lab. But then they go as far as predicting a possible first-half-of-2008 launch and a MacWorld San Francisco keynote introduction, and here's where we have our doubts.
There are many things against this idea. Opening a new market segment, one with little differentiation to the failing UMPCs is a very difficult proposition, even if Apple manages to reinvent these devices again successfully. The problem with UMPCs, however, is that it may never be a product for the masses, exactly like the Newton. It was too small for notebook replacement, too big for true portability. And if Apple has shown anything lately it's that their objective is the consumer market, either through music and telephony or through standard computer platforms.
Looking at the market, it seems that while people may be willing to sacrifice things like a full keyboard in the name of portability, like the case of the iPhone or the iPod touch, this will never happen in the notebook or sub-notebook space. That's why Microsoft's partners and Jack Bauer opt for hybrid notebook-tablet formats. Although not a resounding success, this concept is starting to gain traction. It may be Apple's opportunity to re-invent the format and do a good implementation of such a compact device, now based in multi-touch technology.
There's where the ultra-slim MacBook and the Son-of-Newton touch concept can make the difference.
The Newton brand will probably never make a comeback, though, as the public identify it with total failure (egg freckles anyone?) and PDAs. Also, with Apple centering its development efforts around Mac OS X in almost every device they produce, the Newton OS technology won't see the light again in its previous form. If this rumor materializes in one form or another, most probably Apple will either create a new name or just capitalize in their current brands.
For sure, a ultra-thin MacBook touch running Leopard on Intel's just announced ultra-low power Core processors, along with solid state storage and WiMax support, doesn't sound bad to me.
Actually, it sounds just perfect. [AppleInsider]
Comments
Not even tablets do particularly well, though no doubt the fanboys would eat those things right up. If it works well enough, I'd have to join those fruity bastards and get one myself, cuz multitouch photoshop, painter and friends sounds fan friggin tastic.
But, alas, I call shenanigans.
Stripped down OSX, you say?
Will it be as laggy as the interface in the iPod classic?
and what about the ipod pico rumors?
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I say photoshopped
This is a serious question Jesus. Are you the Apple correspondent? You post so much about it.
I disagree, I would buy a good pda tomorrow. If the iPod touch gets an email client and IM and office viewers, that would do.
@omg-ponies: Or simply be a "my size" iPhone :p
The days for SonOfNewton have come and gone, as the iPhone already does everything you could have wanted it to do and more. A MacBook touch, on the other hand, would rock my world.
A go anywhere laptop/umpc/media player/wifi browser/sketchbook (for us arty types) would kick some serious ass. Priced right (a big if with Apple's history), I'm sure it would be the thing to finally kick tablet sales into high gear.
@Z: That's an ancient and awful fake of the iPod touch.
This post's timing is interesting to me because just two days ago, I was having a conversation with a co-worker about some future technologies.
I told him I believe that eventually, everything will be touch and voice. No more keyboard and no more mouse. I'm not claiming to be Mr. Clairvoyant here. We've seen this in the movies for years.
Ever since I used the iPhone for a week or so, I find the traditional mouse and keyboard clumsy.
As a professional editor who is currently working on Final Cut Pro, I would absolutely welcome a touch atmosphere.
Of course, "Mac Book Touch" Isn't catchy enough... I think they WILL come out with this thing as a PDA just so they can have a product called "iTouch". Or am I an idiot and thats already out?
Son-of-Newton would be the preferred form factor because you could type on it with your thumbs. The tablet would be cool but impractical.
And who said the PDA industry was dying? We just call them phones now.
Think about it - what media market segment is Apple missing? - Print media! How about an itunes lile interface to all your magazines, books, newspapers etc. How cool would it be to have a yearly subscription to your favorite magazine automatically downloaded to your touch tablet like a podcast - same with local and international newspapers. It would be the final prong of Apple media dominance.
A Mac tablet (or "MacTab," as I would call it) would be a fine device for portability reasons (thinner and therefore lighter), but there are two serious concerns: First, input on a full-sized version of the on-screen keyboard implemented on the iPhone would be difficult for consumers to adopt. Lack of tactile feedback might be acceptable on handheld devices, but do consumers really have the patience for that on a full-sized product? I simply don't know the answer to that. And while I think it's overreaching to claim but that doesn't mean "this will NEVER happen in the notebook or sub-notebook space," emphasis added, Apple should be cautious about positively assuming that the market would embrace a physically keyboardless computer.
Second, the glass surface of a full-sized MacTab might be more susceptible to breakage than the iPhone and iPod Touch faces because a larger surface area might mean more pressure can accumulate towards the center of the glass. (Disclosure: I am not a scientist, so this hypothesis might be total bunk.) This might not be a problem for those who intend to carry around their MacTab in a titanium briefcase, but doing so would certainly negate the benefits of a smaller, lighter computer. As for those of us who intend to toss our MacTabs in our backpacks, could we count on them flexing as easily as our aluminum MacBook Pros or plastic MacBooks do?If, in order to achieve this flexibility, Apple would have to employ a thinner glass surface, what tradeoffs would that require?
Making virtual controls touch-based is far better than using them with a mouse, but why suffer at all with a fake slider? We need technology that will change a device's real, tactile, mechanical buttons, switches and dials on the fly somehow.
Whenever you switch to Photoshop, the physical interface in front of you would change to the right dials and buttons for the tool, and a large touch screen for the image.
When you're recording and editing audio, the interface changes to a sound board, and long and narrow screens for audio tracks.
Perhaps I'll patent this in a few hundred years :D
[eshop.macsales.com]
The pure PDA is dying. A hybrid tablet is more practical and provides the best of both worlds:
1. Normal keyboard input for words processing, spreadsheets, mail and other productivity applications that require mass text input.
2. Touch interface for multimedia, consumer and pro specialized applications. A touch computer will be perfect for iLife'09, photo editing, video editing, music.
At one point, mass text input will be substituted for perfect voice recognition that doesn't get confused by ambient noise at all. The keyboards will have to remain with us until then.
A Newton PDA, as nostalgic as I could get myself, is something which is not portable enough to carry it with you everywhere and make it your personal info/communication pod (like the iPhone is). And then, it's not big enough to do real work applications with it (and justify its size.)
That's why the Newton failed and that's why the UMPC is another failure (except for niche industrial applications) no matter how the enthusiasts would like to paint them.
I'd go for something like that in a heartbeat but only if I could use it to edit and create stuff in Illustrator and Photoshop like the Wacom Cintiq. I've been dreaming about a portable version of that since it came out. I don't think it would be possible to get that much accuracy with a fingertip though and Apple seems pretty opposed to the idea of a pen.
But maybe that was just on the iPhone.....
Uhhh....
No. That would be completely impractical. That's worse than typing on a completely touch keyboard. Laptops are bought because of practicality. Also, on laptops, the screen gets protected when not in use, but not for this one.
What I meant by portable version is an all-in-one, as opposed to an external monitor/tablet which is exactly what a Cintiq is.
The Cintiq retails for $2,500, btw. If Apple could deliver the same touch screen capability in a laptop for anywhere near that price point, every graphics professional on the planet would at least have to consider buying one. And when you factor in how many of them are already using OSX, they could have a pretty sizeable hit on their hands. Plus a lot of press coverage which we know they love.
I'm not really buying into the idea of touch screen technology filtering into a standard monitor set-up because of arm fatique but something like this is a whole different story.
Bring back the eMate 300!
just give me the option to have some sort of stylii for things like Photoshop and Illustrator that require more precision than a fingertip, and the MacBook Touch sounds like a perfect machine to me.
@djfred: i should have just quoted this guy instead. heh.
Apple should never refer to their bastard, operationally-challenged and love-starved step-child Newton ever again.
With Graffiti installed the Newton was actually quite a useful PDA in its day. All Apple had to do was admit the inherent limitations and abandon the Newton OS character recognition and unilaterally adopt / purchase graffiti for the writing interface. But nooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Don't get me started....
Good idea in theory, however I don't really see a specific demographic for it. Designers might find it very useful, but how often do you have to design something on the go? I'm a designer and I've never had to design anything on the go. Other than that, most people don't need or use tablet pc's.
@jesusdiaz:
"The pure PDA is dying."
Shipments of Windows Mobile PDAs grew 64 percent in the first quarter of 2007, and this strong growth helped propel worldwide PDA shipments to 5.1 million units, a 39.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2006, according to Gartner, Inc.
Give me that thing with a full featured OS just like my MacBook Pro and I'll drop dimes on it right now, just so I can work on my music projects in Logic with my hands vs. the mouse. Being able to touch the faders in Logic right on my notebook screen would be worth the price of admission alone.
@ANoel: Technological trends are leading to the death of the pure PDA. This doesn't mean PDAs won't have late adopters. Why don't you check out the numbers of pure PDAs currently being produced as opposed to the numbers a few years ago?
I'm surprised that the tablet hybrids haven't caught on more. I just got off a flight where someone had a Lenovo thinkpad that was a hybrid. It was sweet and he loved to use it in tablet mode. I would definitely trade in my macbook pro on a new model with touch screen.
Jesus, your Photoshop skills are impeccable.
I think a product like this is all about screen size. That said 1.5x the size of the iPhone with 720x480 resolutions seems like the wrong size. It's just two close to the size of the iPhone, and not pocketable. Also, the iPhone is already a great PDA and it will only get better, so I don't see the point of another product in the PDA space.
I'm hoping for a MacBook Touch with an 11" or 12" screen running full blown OS X. I think at that size the product can go beyond the functionality of a PDA while still being very portable, and justify the higher cost. I thnk an external keyboard and optical drive might be a route in a product like this.
@mjmahon That's not really what I meant although I seem to see a lot of designers hanging out in coffee shops lately working in Photoshop. It's kind of a cliche that Starbucks is the new office for freelancers.And designers do travel to far away exotic lands and then design things.
Just ask Jesus. You don't think he's had to toss some stuff together for Gizmodo on the fly?
But what I really meant was that anyone paying $2,500 for a Cintiq would have to at least check out an Apple laptop with Cintiq-like capability built into it. A computer AND a laptop for the price of either by itself.
It would need a pen and to work as well as a standalone graphics tablet but I'm sure Apple could handle that.
And a keyboard. We're not talking about a device with a touchscreen keyboard, are we? That would be a huge disaster.
Foleo Killer!!!
@jesusdiaz:
Okay... If you fall into logic traps that easily, I'm going to try to make your head explode:
Is the iPhone a PDA?
In 8 years, sure.
Eventual commercial successes are fueled by multiple technical milestones+commercial failures first.
When we get to the point when literally every single person has a (fast, $250) laptop to the point they're a utility, then we'll see commodity multi-size tech applications succeeding.
~right about the time perfectly good iPod touches are passe and about $10 on eBay.
People are still getting out of desktops. Look for the laptop sales curve to flatten, then the Jesus Newton will return!
@djfred: I see you're point and I agree. I was also thinking it'd be really difficult to use without a keyboard, but it'd be quite easy for Apple to fit in one of those new thin keyboards into the design somehow.
@djfred
I think you are confusing 'Designers' and 'Art Students'
@ANoel:
But, 'Windows Mobile' includes that product on cell phones as well. Kinda misleading data.
@pagercam: You can't kill something that's never born. The question is are we Pro Choice or Pro Life? Since the foleo was almost born, did we kill a living product?! OMG WE ARE MONSTERS!
@Lorne: No, the iPhone is not a pure PDA.
Steve Jobs: "It's an iPod. It's a Phone. It's an Internet."
The pure PDA as we knew it is dead dead dead. Sorry.
Hmmm...a TouchBook?! COuld be worth a punt with Leopard, parallels AND bootcamp on it - would still need mouse support though - takes less energy to type than swipe!
In the near future, I'll be looking to get a new laptop. While I have many reasons for not buying into the Apple-Fanboy garbage, the OS has been great since they went to a *nix-based system. If they come out with a multi-touch tablet, I would seriously consider getting one. Very, very seriously.
There is a big diff. between smartphone and pda. One is actually useful. Think about a PDA in this day and age. Unless you have a wifi enabled one AND a wireless network handy it's like having a PC and not having the internet hooked up: USELESS. Smartphones give you the internet everywhere. Considering the proliferation of Exchange, e-mail, and paperless work environments having access to your Office docs, your work network, and push email is not only essential to business now a days, its de facto. Think about business without RIM or WM5/6 (and hopefully one day Mobile OS X) for minute. Then realize your Handspring Visor and Apple Newtons are dead for a reason. The big daddy of PDAs, Palm, would be dead and gone if it weren't for the treo.
@Joseph: This is what the foleo should have been, bigger than a phone but way smaller than a laptop (foleo was/is just a small laptop that can't run anything but hobbled Excell clone, hobbled Word clone etc...) I don't need everything that a laptop does, but I often need more than a phone can do. A super PDA (screen bigger than 320x240) is what a lot of casual users would want, road warriors etc... Labeling it a PDA is gunna kill it, calling it a mobile web device, that plays MP3s, email and downloads helper apps is a huge market for those that want something more portable and can't afford a laptop. Steve wins again!!!
I dont want mac sh1t. Fanpeople are going to campout in front of the store to be the first to get the son-of-newton, son. Since the screen is 1.5x larger, they will pay 1.5x the price of the iphone when it first came out, the "x" weeks later the price will be reduce ~$100.
People find out that they can only install mac software. Someone makes a hardware crack, sells their son on "pee"bay for $20,000. Next there is a software crack. People install software crack because they want to run 3rd party software. Apple make a statement and says if their son is unlocked then they void they warranty.
Later on some the the 1st gen sons have manufacturing defects, causes the some son to not work. Apple recalls them, but says the unlocked sons are no longer covered by warranty so those people have to pay $300 dollars for theirs to get fixed.
Apple issues official unlock patch. Those who used unofficial patch have been f*cked.
Remember when you were a kid... stick out your tongue and say "Apple".