http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.c ... d=3207177&

I'll be fcuking astounded if Apple sell them that cheap*

* Assuming they ever get to exist at all...

The most of the reports I've heard seem to indicate that it will be a discounted prices (under $500) on contract with a mobile carrier...

I love these reports.

I think it's the iPhone effect. For ages, everyone was insisting Apple would produce a mobile phone. Apple refused to comment, and I think Jobs actually came out stated a phone was not being developed. About a year later, the iPhone came out.

I reckon most of these vapourware reports are just a vain attempt at wishing an Apple tablet into existence, because, like, it happened with the iPhone, so if we all click our heels together three times we can be back in Kansas!

I'll believe in an Apple tablet when Apple announces a tablet. All the tech media puff and bluster is just p*ssing in the wind.

I thought Apple had confirmed that they are working on a tablet, but that it won't appear in 2009 and they haven't given any other details out...

I just googled "Apple confirms tablet".

All the links are to other people confirming Apple will launch or announce a tablet. There are some big names in there, too, like the Financial Times, New York Times, but not Apple.

It's cloud cuckoo land wishful thinking until the Apple iBlock or whatever actually appears in St Jobs' hands at a keynote.

A $400 or £400 tablet won’t sell it to me. It has to be a proper Mac tablet for me to be interested.

http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=home
Sadly, far too expensive at the moment, and probably not the panacea that Axiotron want you to think it is.
http://www.slashgear.com/axiotron-modbo ... 1-2010371/

For Apple to sell a tablet at that price, it is probably a paracetamol...

Seriously add a couple more hundreds to that.

I reckon Gav's not far off. You can get an Eee PC T91 for £350 quid. That's basically a netbook with a 10" touchscreen. Assuming Apple are going for the iPhone form factor you'll be able to chuck away some of the engineering - no keyboard and therefore also no pivot mount required etc, maybe less ports...

Say Apple can make something like an iPod Touch with a 10" screen for roughly £300 cost. Rumour has it Apple makes around 50% profit margin on iPhones, so let's say they make roughly the same here, that comes out to £450. Just for 'consumer neatness' sake, I'd say they'd sell in an Apple shop for £499.

Jon

But Apple doesn't do cheap.

(Let's leave out the "they use cheap bits" argument.)

Apple has consistently pitched their gear at the higher end of the market. If - if - they decide to make some form of tablet or überPhone gadget, it's not going to be at the cheap end whatever people want.

Pitching high hasn't hurt Apple's bottom line.

If I get a tablet running Mac OS for £400, I'd be very interested. If I get a tablet running iPhone OS for £400, I'd be far less interested and somewhat disappointed. The iPhone interface is nice, but a tablet would have to much much more than the iPhone for me to be interested.

How about if that's the price on contract, and the contract is £60 a month for unlimited data?

Apple have said that it will be iPhone OS X, not Mac OS X, 10" is pretty certain, looking at the displays Apple have ordered.

The only "confirmation", other than the version of OS X, is that Phil Schiller said it "won't be in 2009".

Then I'd turn it down. I have little need for access to the internet while out of range of a Wi-Fi network.



Well that's a disappointment. I would have hoped for a replacement for my MacBook, but if I won't be able to run the same applications, I'll still be carrying that around with me.

So...... given that it has no phone function and the screen is tiny and the processor likely won't be powerful enough to do anything useful....


... what exactly is it for apart from gadget-w*nking?

I'm confused.

I'm more confused how you know all this before the thing's even been confirmed, let alone released for testing.