By Seb Janacek, 7 April 2009 12:14
COMMENT
P: That Apple will never release an iPhone with a hologram interface I can control with my emotions and eyebrow gestures?
CP: Yes. But as an adjunct to that: the biggest problem Apple has right now is one of its own making. The iPhone spoilt us all. It came at a time when not just the tech media but the mainstream media were watching the company. How many product launches have been as momentous as the iPhone? Perhaps the first Mac in 1984 and the iMac in 1998?
P: How about the iPod?
CP: The iPod has gone on to great things but it had a low-key release in 2001, when Jobs unveiled it to a small audience in a small auditorium.
P: And your point, Mr Counterpoint?
CP: My point is that since 2007, the iPhone set a level of expectation for all subsequent Apple product launches which has been impossible to match. Whether you love it or hate it, the iPhone set the entire mobile industry on a new course. We're all still coming down from the rush - and expecting another huge rush is going to end in disappointment for everyone.
P: I remember the chilly evening air as I read the updates from MacWorld on 9 January 2007. "This is a day I've been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years." Isn't that what Steve said?
CP: Yep. Besides, Apple already has a tablet computer - it just happens to be called the iPod touch.
P: Pah! These things always come to pass. You'll see.
CP: Always come to pass? Whither the G5 PowerBook?
P: (silence)
CP: (cough)
P: I can't believe you brought that up.
CP: Sorry...
P: It's still a bitter pill.
CP: Well at the end, that bitter pill is the closest you'll come to a tablet from Apple, my friend.
P: Ha ha. Just wait - you'll see. You're forgetting one thing.
CP: What's that?
P: There'll always be just one more thing...
Comments
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1. anonymous
It would have been nice for Mr CounterPoint to actually make a point.
Here's what, to me at least, is the most interesting reason that apple is working on a netbook/tablet something...
It hasn't been denied (recently) and the fans are SCREAMING for it, at least as loudly as pre-iPhone announcement. Every month there is a flurry of speculation, whenever an apple exec even says something that rhymes with netbook, the blog-o-sphere lights up! The macbooks aren't enough, the MB air aren't enough, the iPhone isn't enough. Netbooks are filling a very real need, and it's not just because they're so cheap. It's because they're truly portable in a way that every apple fan wants.
Apple fans everywhere are frothing at the mouth. Not to type an essay, not to do their graphic design work... to watch a film in bed, to read on the bus, to browse iTunes in a cafe. The iPhone is great when you're truly on the go, but you can't really watch a film on it, you can't really read a book on it...
But a tablet with a new iTunes bookstore...? That sounds like something Steve Jobs would want while he's at home.
Of course, this is mostly coming from the fact I RLY want an apple tablet/netbook!