Apple tablet launch: live coverage | Hacker News Reader

Apple tablet launch: live coverage

guardian.co.uk

23 pointsprat27 comments

I'm wondering whether there is provision for wireless keyboard and mouse. Last week, a friend was asking whether they might substitute this for the Macbook they are considering purchasing. Their overall computer use is pretty light and Internet focused: Email, browsing, some light document editing (which Google Docs or similar could handle). Having the form factor of a tablet, without having to make two purchases, would be of use to them.

(My personal reaction to this approach was not entirely positive (e.g. guaranteed access to data and security of same?), but I take their point.)

P.S. Or wired input accessories. Wireless just seems more intuitively in line with the design and form factor.

Also, this was before the stronger rumors circulated about it hosting the iPhone version of their OS, although I was speculating/suspecting about just how locked up it would be. And without Flash (Gruber, et al.), its "general" browsing and online document editing potential will be limited.

If it has Bluetooth then it could simply be used with the existing Apple wireless keyboard and mouse (the one I'm typing on right now).

My guess? No.

If the tablet supports keyboards, people will think of it as half a laptop. The keyboard will be denigrated as an unofficially-required-but-not-included peripheral. Everyone will get stuck on the usability annoyances of lugging around a tablet with separated keyboard and 'how do you prop up the screen'. (Chance of integrated kick-stand is around 0)

Further, devs will get keyboards and write software that assumes people have them too, exacerbating the above.

A pen is iffy. I don't think Apple wants anyone thinking of the tablet as another-pen-based-mistake. Not while finger-on-iPod is such a smashing UI success. But the upside to a stylus is pretty huge (maybe they'll attempt to re-brand it as something else; a 'brush' perhaps).

But I think physical keyboards are right out.

I think Apple may allow kayboards and mice but not right away. They might very well wait two or three years to first "educate" everyone about how tablets are supposed to work.

Just an example: I don't think it would harm the iPhone now if Apple started to sell pens. It would have hurt the iPhone when it started.

On the contrary, I think the longer the platform goes without kb/m, the less relevant they become. At this point, with so many people so used to touch* and typing emails on their iphones about as quickly as they did on their blackberry, how many people in Apple's market would choose the hassle of a BT chiclet keyboard?

(*the most common usability complaint I hear RE: Android, is apps that don't expose functionality through on-screen UI, iphone-style, but via the 'menu' button)

As for pens, Apple may be content to let third parties handle that. User expectations don't get confused, but much of their power can still be harnessed.

For the record, I literally /facepalm'd when I saw the keyboard/dock.

The current reading of tea leaves says the tablet will have the iPhone OS, which means, perhaps, a reasonably sized software keyboard in landscape mode?

I agree that physical keyboards are out, though.

Turns out yes, and very tastefully done.

Yep. The Gizmodo pages look a little overly enthusiastic to me, but I'm betting that this is going to tempt my friend. She is quite non-technical and one of the reason's she has been considering a Mac is to get away from the malware that has caused her work provided Windows PC to be wiped and reinstalled four times (she never asked me for help with it; too bad).

http://i.gizmodo.com/5458341/ipad-keyboard-dock-because-even...

http://i.gizmodo.com/5458292/the-apple-tablet-is-here-and-it...

Naïve question: is there a live video stream of the event?

I'm wondering that too.

Sometimes Apple provides it. See if it appears in their home page.

No they don't. Haven't for years now.

It's always the same: During the event you get live transcripts from the usual suspects, maybe an unofficial audio or video stream that sounds and looks as if it were transmitted live from hell. After the event, with maybe ten to twenty minutes delay, the Apple website will be back up and after a few hours (four or so) you can watch the webcast provided by Apple. But maybe don't try that in the first four hours or so if you want decent quality.

No, unfortunately (or fortunately?) there isn't. There will likely be a webcast stream available on Apple's site later today - usually a couple of hours after the event ends.

There hasn't been in years. Usually a stream comes up within an hour after the event ends.

Sounds like a promotional opportunity for Justin.tv.

It'd be a great opportunity for anyone doing video. I think the real reason that they don't stream live is that the video quality usually isn't that great. By releasing the videos later they can provide higher quality and give it a more polished feel.

There are often an one or two "unofficial" streams floating around, but the sound quality is poor and the visuals are worse.

http://technologizer.com/appletablet/ says they have live coverage of the event, and their site looks like it has video... but it probably doesn't because the text says "tell" not "show":

We’ll tell you about the event as quickly as it unfolds

If I understand this correctly, they will have live play-by-play audio at crunchgear.

"This is where all of our live content for today’s Apple event will live. To make things perfectly clear, Apple won’t let us film inside the event. However, CrunchGear and a special surprise guest will offer a full play by play. Feel free to turn on your headphones at work and listen to the news as it happens or watch us live complete with coverage from San Francisco before and after the event.

We will start streaming live at 12:30pm EST/9:30am PST and the event begins at 1pm EST/10am PST."

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/27/crunchgear-live-at-the-...

Given Apple's track record I'm sure this will be a wonderful device but I think pricing is going to be a big problem for them. I would expect an iPhone 2G style price drop by summer if the price tag is over $800 as rumored.

If the price is not high enough, coping with initial demand will be a real problem. If the price is high enough, they will cope with initial demand, then they can reduce the price "iPhone 2G style" later. So they have no reason to start with a low price; they would be losing profits and adding a supply problem.

The price issue, I think, is key. No one has mentioned, as far as I know, that since the device is designed to be always-connected, it could be bundled with a mobile contract (albeit a data-only plan), just like an iPhone, and thus heavily subsidized by the carrier. While most of us know that a two year contract is a really expensive way to get $300 knocked of the price of a phone, it does allow for really amazing devices to have really amazing looking prices, like $200 for the iPhone or $180 for the Nexus One. I suspect the tablet could see a similar subsidized price (and similar lock-in to a single carrier that made a deal with Apple, hoping for a knock out hit like the iPhone has been for AT&T; they'll be disappointed, but the deal probably could have been made).

looks like the screen is four times the size of an iPhone. it can run iPhone apps, either tiled or pixel-doubled to fullscreen. it is of course tied to the App Store. there will be an emulator to develop for it, just like the iPhone. the new SDK and emulator is supposedly available today.

the liveblog sites are too overloaded for me to get much more than that.

I wonder if anyone is using qik.com to stream the event from their iPhone...

From the Engadget leaked photos, it looks like it has both cellular connectivity and a front video camera. Video calling, here we come.

Still, the more I find out about the device, the less interested I am. It looks like it's just going to be a huge iPhone. Fun, but not useful. And while I miss almost nothing about my previous smartphones before the iPhone, I do miss the ability to be able to install whatever I wanted. Locked devices foster an entirely different application ecosystem -- one that's not super useful for programmers, I find.

I'm with you. Although I feel sure (tr: believe without specific evidence) that this will be a well-made device and cause even more people to throw money in Apple's direction, and I like tablets a lot, I'd prefer something built around a more open platform. I can live without the cellular connectivity.

Obviously Windows and Linux desktop metaphors are inappropriate for a device of this size (the main reason they haven't taken off in this space previously), but to my mind the front end is only a shell anyway, no?

This isn't meant to rain on Apple's parade, though. Rather, kudos to them for pushing into new territory and bringing the future that extra step closer.

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