Got a tip for us? Share it...

Apple Tablet Coming in 2010?

Silicon Alley Insider reports on a note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claiming that Apple's rumored "media pad" or tablet computer will not arrive until sometime in the first half of 2010. Munster also claims that the device will be more dramatically different from the iPhone and competing netbooks than most analysts and investors are expecting. The complexity of the operating system, reported to be a hybrid between the iPhone OS and full-blown Mac OS X, is apparently the primary factor holding up release of the device.

Don't get your hopes up for one of those devices this year, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster writes in a note today. While Munster thinks Apple is indeed working on these sorts of devices -- running a third version of OS X "more robust" than the iPhone but optimized for multi-touch screens -- he thinks they're not going to launch this year, as some had predicted.

"We expect the development of such an OS to be underway currently, but its complexity, along with our conversations with a key company in the mobile space, leads us to believe it will not launch until CY10," Munster says.

AppleInsider provides additional detail on Munster's report, revealing that the tablet is expected to be priced in the $500-$700 range and thus bridging the gap between the iPod touch and the entry level MacBook. The tablet would utilize a display somewhere between 7- and 10-inches and would be well differentiated from existing netbook offerings, which Apple has repeatedly said it has no interest in duplicating due to the poor user experience such devices offer.

More specifically, the analyst said these investments will likely culminate with the launch of a touch-screen tablet with a display somewhere between 7- and 10-inches at a special event sometime in the first half of 2010. Such a move, he added, would be consistent with management's comments that Cupertino-based company has no interest in catering to the existing segment for "cheap" miniaturized notebooks and its spoken desire to differentiate in a market currently dominated by cramped computers with razor thin margins and a subpar user experience.

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

36 months ago
Introducing iProcrastinate, the new product release scheduling application by Apple.
Coming soon. iPromise.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
iTablet iRedux iWait.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
But I want one now!!
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
well i was hoping for something like this at wwdc, but better late than never i guess
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
This is a product that i'd like to know officially is coming.... otherwise, i'll be spending money elsewhere.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
Apple Tablet .. one of the longest running rumours.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago

Introducing iProcrastinate, the new product release scheduling application by Apple.
Coming soon. iPromise.


Doesn't someone here have an iPhone app called iProcrasinate?

Would be interesting to see how accurate this tablet screen would be, and maybe have some basic pressure sensitivity.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
I think I'll stick with my iPhone and 13" MacBook, but I can see how this would work for some people.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
I tell you this is going to continue until the day Apple finally gives in and makes something that can remotely be labelled as a tablet! Jeez..

And this makes Front Page. Wow! And that too some crap from Analysts who do nothing but grumble!!
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
36 months ago
Not sure about a tablet...really. Or even a combination tablet/netbook. Large iPod? :( Hoping this one is not true.

On a positive note, Apple seems to be able to do now wrong when a product actually comes out so I will just wait and see on this one.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives

[ Read All Comments ]