Apple Engineers Increasing Trips to Asia Ahead of Tablet Launch?

I can only imagine this :apple: Tablet competing against the NetBook hardware, other than that its seems limiting in purpose.

It's going to be underpowered to conserve battery life and will have a screen in the 10-13" range to be portable yet functionally usable for every age group.

NetBooks are great and I have one as well, however its not for all ages as the screen and resolution can be straining on some age groups as well as those who suffer from poor eye-sight. It is also not practical to stare at a small screen for long hours.

Let see what this :apple: Magic Tablet has to offer. Though I am not inclined to drop some coin on it.

Must be a nice life being an Apple engineer with all the trips to china. I wonder if we'll see it in January or later in the quarter. If it is launched just after Christmas we may be on version 2 by Christmas 2010!

i'll believe it when i see it

I can't wait to see this thing, I hope it lives up to all the hype(although it won't, but it will be a good product):D

Must be a nice life being an Apple engineer with all the trips to china. I wonder if we'll see it in January or later in the quarter. If it is launched just after Christmas we may be on version 2 by Christmas 2010!

It will be Q1 2010, the product line-up for the Holiday Season is set. According to Phil.

Of course the engineer could just be Chinese and visiting a sick relative but that wouldn't really lend itself as much to Macrumors. :rolleyes:

In fact, I heard there's also an engineer who has been making trips back and forth to Peoria, IL and will be going there during both the Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Years holidays but that's just because he likes his mom's cooking. :D

I can't wait to see this thing, I hope it lives up to all the hype(although it won't, but it will be a good product):D

The moment you have to balance an object, screen, tablet on your forearm, you are going to run into problems. The handheld devices worked because a person can grasp it easily. Try holding and balancing that Tablet on your forearm for 10+ mins, you will find yourself placing it on a desk or table and if you are going to do that you might as well have a more powerful notebook.

Curious to see the :apple: marketing spin on this. Love the hype it only makes it more interesting. :D

This is so absurd.

It's like trying to read tea leaves to read the future of Apple products...No, wait. That's what the Apple Engineers are doing. They are traveling to Asia to find the right person to read tea leaves and see what Apple should do next.

Given Steve's dislike of leaks and being outted, I wouldn't be surprised if he & Apple don't just cancel this project.

This is so absurd.

It's like trying to read tea leaves to read the future of Apple products...No, wait. That's what the Apple Engineers are doing. They are traveling to Asia to find the right person to read tea leaves and see what Apple should do next.

Given Steve's dislike of leaks and being outted, I wouldn't be surprised if he & Apple don't just cancel this project.

or maybe just maybe they really like authentic Chinese Cuisine. ;):D

Cost is nothing when you have a craving. ;)

A tablet is possible, but I think the (expected) Arrandale MBP update is a more likely reason. All the signs point to a Q12010 release for the processor, and this wouldn't be the first time that Apple had secured early access to a new architecture.