We’re less than a week away from the big September 9th “rock and roll” spectacle where Apple is set to make some big announcements. So far, what do we know for sure? It’s all about the iPod. But, the rumor mill continues to churn. What people are expecting? Plenty. One of the earlier reports from Apple Insider “independently confirm” that Apple will “introduce its 2009 iPod offerings and make a host of other music-related announcements.” Which seems to make sense since the September announcements have traditionally (at least for the last four years) been based around the iPod. The fact of the matter is that Apple sent out the above invites to their September 9th media event this past Monday using “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” a take on the Rolling Stones song “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” as the tag line for the event. One belief about the iPod refresh is that they will be equipped with cameras and microphones. Also expected is the announcement of iTunes 9 which is rumored to have several new enhancements, including some Blu-ray and social media support, as first outlined by The Boy Genius Report. Additionally, the other expected news is to be about their new digital media packaging platform, codenamed “Cocktail,” as we first learned from BetaNews. (Though, it’s also been a while since we heard anything about Apple TV.)
If the Fall Apple announcements of the past have taught us anything, they’ve taught us that they’re all about the music. So, the above breakdown seems pretty realistic, with some exciting new advancements to Apples stronghold on today’s digital music landscape. However, one of the most rumored about and discussed Apple products that theorists can’t seem to get enough mongering about is the infamous Apple Tablet. As I previously wrote, it seems fairly likely that Apple is in development on a Tablet device. The question is: When will it be announced? Could it be next week as the The Financial Times suggests? Doubtful. But… there is one very exciting new development. Snow Leopard.
It’s been discovered that Apple’s new OS X (10.5.6) released just last Friday includes some amazing new features that seem to integrate Apple’s touch technology. First off, as Cult of Mac point out:
The more I play with Snow Leopard, the more it looks like it’s designed to run Apple’s upcoming tablet.
Look at Expose in the Dock — the new feature that reveals all an application’s open windows when you click and hold the application’s icon. It’s tailor-made for fingers. Even more convincing is Stacks in the Dock. Hit a folder icon in the dock, and up pops the folder and all its files. Each icon is a big target for your finger, and the window has a big, fat slider for scrolling up and down (no more fiddly little arrows at the top or bottom). Both of these UI tweaks scream ‘touchscreen.’
And then today I discovered an unheralded feature that the minute I saw it, I thought, “Game over! Here’s rock-solid proof that Snow Leopard is designed for touchscreens. This is a tablet operating system.”
The new UI element s a virtual keyboard, a must-have for a tablet. Snow Leopard includes a big virtual keyboard that looks clearly designed for typing on a touchscreen. It’s a big, bold version of the iPhone’s virtual keyboard with large keys that scream “type me!”
Next up in Snow Leopard is, QuickTime X - Apple’s long-running multimedia system, has seen a complete overhaul and is much more simplified. It looks and feels like the multimedia controls on the iPhone. A great example is in the new video editing controls. You trim video by dragging a pair of yellow handles to mark the edit spots… just like the editing system that debuted on the iPhone 3 OS, designed for touch.
Then, as Apple demonstrated at the WWDC programmers conference earlier this year, Snow Leopard will have a slew of “finger-friendly” features, such as Cover Flow throughout, Expose, Stacks and Quick Look. (First noted by CNet).
And finally, there’s this report from TUAW, where they point out a new program called Autograph (US$6.95) that allows Macbook users the ability to write or draw via the multitouch capable trackpad. (I’ll be testing this out soon!) Also from TUAW is this: Mac OS X, now HDTV-ready with 10.6. They don’t make any correlation between this new feature and the Tablet but, I think it is quite relevant.
Unfortunately, it looks more and more likely that the highly anticipated Apple Tablet will NOT be debuting next week, with most insider leaks indicating that we won’t see the device make an appearance until 2010. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t go on speculating. One recent post details: Report Apple Tablet Coming In Two Flavors: Webcam And Education. While I’m not sure why there would be a version isolating a webcam, the Education concept makes a lot of sense to me. As stated in the last sentence of a Financial Times article about new iTunes music features:
“Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about their services being offered with the new computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle.”
If you think about it, Apple could literally kill the Kindle in one fail swoop. With the ability to download ebooks, music, and video via iTunes, a students fate could be transformed into an entirely digital lifestyle. Combine that easy access with a 2-3 pound Mac OS powerhouse sporting a 10-inch touchscreen display and… you have a serious winner. I, for one, am very excited about the prospects and think it could be a major game changer for a couple of different reasons. (Which I won’t get into now, but…)
I’ve long been a fan of the concept of a tablet and even considered purchasing one several years back but never made the plunge. There’s a couple of great arguments and conceptual designs we’ve seen supporting the hypothetical device. But none quite so detailed as the one John Doe brings us. Doe, requesting to hide his identity in hopes of being recruited by Apple, has spent the last year detailing what his ideal iTablet would feature and how it would function. Here’s a glimpse…
As stated by Doe:
“I did want to make one big clarification: This concept is not an attempt to predict what Apple might do with a Tablet device. This is my idea and not related to any rumors. The only reason I made it look like a fictional Apple product is simply because I love Apple and their approach to UI design in both the Mac and iPhone.”
“The main problem is that Multi-Touch can be applied in many different ways,” writes Doe on his blog. He explains:
“There are three broad categories for applying Multi-Touch:
* First, Multi-Touch can be added on top of our PCs as they currently exist. This idea is stupid. Multi-Touch becomes practically useless because it’s on top of an interface that is designed for keyboards and mice. It’s nothing more than a novelty here. A cool novelty, but a novelty nonetheless.
* Second, the physical keyboard and mouse can be put aside and their current controls redesign for Multi-Touch. This would be accomplished by recreating things like keyboard shortcuts and “right-click” as Multi-Touch gestures. This is also stupid. Most of these gestures become just as obscure and indirect as the keyboard and mouse. They would be impractical and hard to learn. And, these gestures would not be as good as the actual keyboard and mouse controls they emulate. Right-Click on a Multi-Touch computer is absurd.
* Finally, you can completely abandon everything we know and understand about the PC interface, and start fresh with a new Interface Paradigm and controls focused on Multi-Touch. This is the path to take.”
Doe breaks it all down here… and has a slew of videos here… with even more photos here.
There’s also a great analysis of all of Doe’s activities in a recent post entitled Gallery: How Apple’s Tablet Will Be a Paradigm Shift on Cult of Mac.
Above photo credit: Jesus @ Gizmodo
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