I don’t really do much industrial design (there’s probably a good reason for that) but I couldn’t get over a niggling (though probably baseless) inkling that Apple will be coming out with a tablet this spring. I mean, if anyone can ship a tablet that’s not lame, it’ll be Apple. Besides that, there’s just too much evidence out there that suggests rather convincingly that Apple intends to put one out sooner or later (not that they haven’t tried before), so rather than sit around and wait, I thought I’d mockup what one of these devices might look like:
Here it is with the touch keyboard:
And with CoverFlow™:
So, there were some other ideas I had about this too that venture into the realm of pure conjecture. I mean, I could have just blogged these ideas without pictures, but I think it’s certainly more compelling with them. Anyway:
- The OS will actually use the same OS as the iPhone. I mean why else would they invest so much in a paired down OS if they’re only going to use it on one platform? Ludicrous! Instead, this device will basically be a glorified iPhone, just 2.5x the size. Here’s the kicker <wild conjecture>: the iPhone SDK was delayed in order for 1) Leopard to come out (so you wouldn’t write Tiger-apps for the iPhone) and 2) because this device will launch at MacWorld, and the iPhone SDK will work for the Apple iPad Touch as well.</wild conjecture> Pretty clever eh?
- Just like the name implies, and just like its cousin the iPod Touch, this device is all about tactile user interface. There’s no solid state keyboard on this bad boy. Instead, it’s a pure software keyboard, able to be gloriously adapted and regiggered to fit the task at hand, or able to have key identifiers in any language imaginable. Heck, you could even have a Halo-specific keyboard with specific buttons for each type of grenade.
- To add an additional Minority Report-quality to this device, Apple will probably introduce their own software-driven version of the clickwheel, and it’ll probably look something like the QuickSilver constellation menus or the new Sapiens app. This interface will be necessarily for navigating around without a Dock and without having to return to the home screen. And, don’t forget how good CoverFlow looks at larger sizes.
- Although this device wouldn’t have a CD or DVD slot, it would still be an excellent device for movie playback (for all the movies you buy from the iTunes store, of course!). Imagine being cramped in an airplane seat — no more dinky iPod Video… and no more awkward 15″ laptop. You get a perfectly mobile, conveniently flat device for even the seats with the least legroom.
Speaking of the lack of optical drive (well, the bottom-loader theory is interesting)… this device is all about wireless, just like the iPod Touch. Fortunately it has all the same ports as the MacBook Pro, but is only as thick as the lower part of that system, given that the screen is just a thin layer above the inner workings.- There’s no mouse or touch pad on this device (though you can add a mouse via Bluetooth or USB). As with the Touch series, you interact with everything directly, rather than having the traditional out-of-body pointer experience.
- Dashboard Widgets really get their due here with a souped up WebKit rendering engine — supporting CSS animation and transforms, downloadable fonts, offline storage (for those airplane rides, again) and SVG, not to mention a lot of Core Animation goodness. And yes, with the SDK, native apps will of course be possible.
- Losing the optical drive helped another area that rocks with this device: battery life. It’d say 12 hours without too much trouble, thanks too to converting to flash drives.
So that’s about it. Part of this exercise was just to come up with a bunch of random ideas and see what other people think or what they want from an Apple tablet. If you ask me, less is more here; I don’t want just another Windows-style tablet with all the bells and whistles. I actually like my iPhone better without third-party apps. If Apple’s going to build the Apple iPad Touch (or whatever better name they come up with), I expect nothing less than a slick, streamlined experience that feels less like a computer and more like a lifestyle object.
Oh, and one more thing. 
This baby will retail at $699 for 32GB and $899 for 64GB (remember, flash drives are still pricey) available immediately (well, if I were speaking at MacWorld 2008 it would be…).
26 Comments
I want one!
But what can it do that an iPhone can’t (or couldn’t without a bit more software)? Seems like it would be wedged between the iPhone and MacBook. But the MacBook can do so much more for a comparable price and the iPhone does almost as much.
I think the iPhone itself could end up being this device if you add a BT keyboard and open up 3rd party development.
Very nice, and quite plausible.
One thing to note is that I don’t think it would ever have “Touch” in the name. The “iPod Touch” is only named so in order to differentiate it from the “iPod Classic”, in the same way that there was once an “iPod Video” which later simply became the “iPod” when they phased out the non-video model. Since there is no previous table product to differentiate from, Apple would surely go for the simplest name possible.
Very nice post!
Dugg this: http://digg.com/apple/Apple_Tablet_Concept_the_iPad_Touch
What would be amazing is if the device had a camera which projected an input device onto a surface.
A bit like your keyboard picture above. So u put the device vertical and then a camera like an inbuilt isight projects an input device onto the desk. In theory it could project anything. A massive touchpad, a chessboard, an abacus, calculator etc. etc. and it uses some amazing technology to recognize where ure hands are.
Great stuff, Chris! A stand to hold it as a fixed display with a built-in charger, plus extra USB/Firewire ports would be excellent. I’d love to see a software package from Apple, too, that would be good for sketching/design thrown on there for good measure. A combination Illustrator/Visio/Sketchpad app.
Obviously, though, don’t send it to Apple in a letter. They’d only break your heart.
What would cause me to switch to a Mac would be if the space where the touchpad currently is became an empty hole where I could snap in my iPhone or iTouch. I’d use it as a touchpad on the Mac, fling stuff back and forth from one to the other, and then take it with me when I was done.
Why would you wait for Apple to come up with this? If you want a small tablet with lots of battery life, there’s the Nokia N810 for $479, available this month: http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/17/nokia-n810-gets-official/
And if you want a larger tablet, there are plenty to choose from, including the one I carry daily — a Thinkpad X60 tablet, which is 3 pounds (no optical drive) and has over 5 hours of battery life.
I just don’t see why it’s necessary to pine for Apple in this field when there are plenty of good competitors already.
Hi,
You seem to have forgoten quite an important peace of technology on this device: built-in iSight camera.
Now that would make for an impressive portable videoconferencing system…
I really like your renderings. Your idea of the iPad Touch being a bigger iPhone/iPod Touch is interesting. A $700-800 price point is extremely unrealistic. It would probably parity the Windows Tablet PC prices, just be a better value. However, I don’t think its likely that Apple would expect people to dole out $1500-2000 for a tablet PC with a stripped down iPhone Leopard OS X.
It would make more sense that it would operate a full blown Leopard install with an add-on touch package to allow for multi-touch and supporting utilities.
I agree that it would be only one spindle (no optical drive) and it would be nice to support SSD flash based HDD, albeit an expensive option. It makes sense that this ultra portable product would be the first to incorporate new power saving technology and supports the idea that it would have a Macbook Pro class price point.
They would probably approach Foxconn for the production like their other laptops. The screen will likely use the 13.3″ panels and Santa Rosa chipset from Macbooks to leverage their supply chain. Probably using the ULV versions of the Core 2 Duo.
I picture Apple providing a dock/cradle that the Touch device could sit in to use with a keyboard. The next iMac could closely resemble this product. Perhaps an iMac Touch that could be angled and lowered act like a Wacom tablet for input.
Would you be willing to do another example with the Leopard desktop overlaid on your iPad Touch rendering?
Again, great job and nice speculation.
Jon
For the love of all that is good and holy, please add punctuation to the touch keyboard, especially if there is room. Why tap 6 times in order to type an elipses (…)?
I like your concept however I see two distinct Tablets type computers in Apple’s future.
1) Is similar to what you have shown. mobile OSX, larger touchscreen and taking it’s design ques from the iPhone. I believe Apple will market it as an eBook type device for passive entertainment (reading, browsing, watching, listening)
2) The second device is more like an UMPC and will run Leopard, use a stylus and take it’s design cues from the new iMac. I believe Apple will market it as a productivity/creativity device for Getting Things Done(TM) and freedom to create anywhere(whip it out, take a photo, sketch an idea over it, add voice annotation and email it to a client).
You probably made Boris Mann’s day
He has been predicting a tablet since we were in uni together 
Excellent mock-up, just throw a flip-out stand on the back and it’s good to go. If I was Jony Ives I’d be knocking on your door right now.
This is gorgeous, in true Apple fashion!
Yo, dis pooch is off the chain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am gonna be the first to get one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am gonna get dis at mac world at the premiere!
this shit is fake mutha fuckas
Yeah, I think it would work with a wireless keyboard. That’s cool. But how about the option to use a keyboard projected in front of you, as well? Every early adopter seen using THAT in a coffee shop will send a flood of new buyers to Apple. Everyone would want one.
Gotta do the ‘Air’ thing. The unit’s gotta be superlight and superportable. No internal drives, all Flash storage. It’s a pad of paper, or Moleskine notepad, that you carry around easily, and it does everything you’d use the pad for, as well of course as everything an iPhone would do AND most things a laptop would do.
I think you and I want the same product. But I really dig the projected keyboard part - that’s pure marketing gold. And marketing needs to be a key feature of this device - as any former Newton owner will agree.
“I just don’t see why it’s necessary to pine for Apple in this field when there are plenty of good competitors already.”
Funny, that’s what they said when the iPod came out.
“What would be amazing is if the device had a camera which projected an input device onto a surface.”
Didn’t realize Dan had already mentioned this. Gotta give props. Also, the device has to be able to stand upright if a projected display is going to work. So some sort of stable and durable stand has to pop out of the back somehow. Ideally it would stand horizontally OR vertically, though I’d settle for just horizontal.
This is great news, but what we need is a pocket PDA form factor. Not a 12-inch monster. Something like this, but with full Mac OS X inside, true FireWire, true Ethernet and true high-quality video out (both wired and wireless):
OQO model e2
http://www.oqo.com
What for? For this:
1. Make a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation on your standard Mac.
2. Save it to the Apple PDA.
3. Carry only the PDA with you IN YOUR POCKET and use it as you would use a MacBook or other Mac to give the presentation in the classroom, scientific meeting, etc.
Even the MacBook Air is too large and heavy for us. We need something much smaller and lighter with a full Mac OS X inside to run truly NATIVE Keynote and PowerPoint files.
We need thousands for our University and we will pay whatever price for it.
Add these two additional functions and it’s game over for sony, amazon, msft, etc.
Handwriting rec: Nothing too fancy. Imagine taking all your notes in meetings, automatically filing by subject and wirelessly syncing
Digital Ink: Not sure if possible but would be great to have digital ink as well as full LCD…you can’t beet the resolution (and battery life) for reading books.
That’s all, two simple requests…and you’ve created the third definitive form factor.
(it goes without saying, no word, excel, fancy email, etc…keep it really simple and tactile.)
I envision something like the inexpensive netbook format popularized by companies like Asus and Everex. Asus is one of Apple’s contract manufacturers and I have no doubt it is the vendor tasked with building this device. Given some of Oppenheimer’s comments, I’m thinking the price is going to be the same as netbooks from HP but with dramatically better functionality…while I agree with your price points I believe Apple might go even lower to $499.
I previously worked for Dynamac, the first manufacturer of portable Apple computers. For more projected hardware and software specs, along with an analysis of pricing drivers see http://tinyurl.com/57fgm9
I have seen this concept floating around the net for a while now. I love it. I would wait in line for however long it took to get one. I have been wanting a tablet PC for sometime now as my old Dell laptop is too heavy and just not convienent for me. I love my Iphone and stood in line for 3 hours for the 3G Iphone. Thanks for your great renderings.
Here it is:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/rumor_apples_secret_product_is_macbook_touch/P100
Phone Pro:
The full power of Leopard in your pocket.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/gallery/image_med/15417
http://www.ilounge.com/gallery/iphone_concept/iphonePro2.jpg
Here it is:
Next Apple moves will be Books and Games…
http://spidouz.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/next-apple-moves-will-be-books-and-games/
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