Apple tablet to be heavyweight e-reader competition
Posted by Alisa Zykova on December 29, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Apple Inc. shares have continued to grow this week after reaching a record high Thursday, The Street reported. Apple's stock closed at US$211.61 on Monday, up by $2.57 (1.23 percent) over the day's closing price of $209.04. The proposed reason for the rise is Apple's alleged launch of a new tablet computer in early 2010. However, Frost & Sullivan analyst James Brehm said there may be "strong interest in it, but it won't be the wave of the future," according to CNNMoney.com.
QuickPwn speculates that the tablet will not be a larger version of the iPod/iPhone as expected, but would instead be an eBook reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook and other e-readers.
QuickPwn speculates that the tablet will not be a larger version of the iPod/iPhone as expected, but would instead be an eBook reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook and other e-readers.
"But it makes more sense that instead of trying to invent a whole new product niche in the style of Crunchpad, Apple would try to steal an already proven market, the way the company invaded personal computers, MP3 players, TV consoles, and smartphones. Apple didn't create these genres, but the company brings in $30 billion a year in revenue with upmarket, smartly designed entries in all of them," VentureBeat's Paul Boutin wrote.
In 1993 Apple released a tablet device called Newton MessagePad, which only sold a few hundred thousand during its five years on the market. Other tablet devices such as Compaq iPAQ and Palm Pilot may have been replaced by smart phones. What's inconvenient about tablet computers, CNNMoney.com's David Goldman proposes, is that they may be more functional than smaller devices but not as functional as a PC.
"The Apple tablet will have a beautiful user interface, it will have a pleasing aesthetic and will be marketed well," Yankee Group's Senior Consumer Research Analyst Chris Collins told CNNMoney.com. "But at the end of the day, we're still talking about a smart phone with a bigger screen."
Collins added that the tablet, rumoured to be called iSlate, may boost innovation within smaller devices such as smart phones and help decrease prices of PCs.
According to DigiTimes.com, the device will be announced in January while mass shipments are predicted to start in March or April based on the shipping schedules of Apple's component partners.
In 1993 Apple released a tablet device called Newton MessagePad, which only sold a few hundred thousand during its five years on the market. Other tablet devices such as Compaq iPAQ and Palm Pilot may have been replaced by smart phones. What's inconvenient about tablet computers, CNNMoney.com's David Goldman proposes, is that they may be more functional than smaller devices but not as functional as a PC.
"The Apple tablet will have a beautiful user interface, it will have a pleasing aesthetic and will be marketed well," Yankee Group's Senior Consumer Research Analyst Chris Collins told CNNMoney.com. "But at the end of the day, we're still talking about a smart phone with a bigger screen."
Collins added that the tablet, rumoured to be called iSlate, may boost innovation within smaller devices such as smart phones and help decrease prices of PCs.
According to DigiTimes.com, the device will be announced in January while mass shipments are predicted to start in March or April based on the shipping schedules of Apple's component partners.
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