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By Jim DalrympleDecember 23, 2009, 3:35 pm PT
Apple’s long rumored, but non-existent tablet may see the light of day at a special event held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in late January, according to reports.
A blog posted on Wednesday at the Financial Times says that Apple reserved space for the special event, which will be held on January 26, 2010. This is the same space Apple has used in the past for several of its iPod announcements.
It’s important to note, that Apple has not confirmed or announced an event. In fact, Apple hasn’t confirmed the existence of a tablet.
However, industry analyst Gene Munster believes an Apple event is quite likely in the new year where Apple will introduce the tablet.
“We believe there is a 75 percent likelihood that Apple will have an event in January and a 50 percent chance that it will be held to launch the Apple Tablet. If Apple announced the Tablet in January, it would likely ship later in the March quarter.”
Munster also said that the event could be used to launch an iPod touch with a video camera or an Apple TV with a subscription service.
A 37.5% chance …eh?
Munster added that there is a 40 percent chance that the product may be introduced by a talking unicorn, and a 60 percent chance that it will be introduced by a leprechaun.
I hadn’t heard about the unicorn. DAMN!
“it would likely ship later in the March quarter”
When does the March quarter take place? – After the 5th season? Just more of Munsters sloppy commentary.
Without Kool-Aid: 35% chance.
With Kool-Aid: 79% chance.
Just read another nutty article by the amusing Joe Wilcox, in which he seems to mock his “good friend” Jim Dalrymple’s response to the question “what would you use a Mac tablet for?”
Seriously, this guy is a “good friend” of Jim Dalrymple? He’s vertainly no friend to the Mac community, and I think he’s an idiot.
And why isn’t he a “friend to the Mac community?” Because he has a differing opinion?
Because of his tone and the fact that he is constantly bashing Apple. He has no credibility with me because he is overwhelmingly negative, and his name-dropping regarding his “friendship” with Jim and then macho-superior analysis was a big turn-off with me. Yes, my comments were made from an emotional perspective, but they were the culmination of reading a lot of crap by this guy. Everyone’s beginning to sound like a sports reporter nowadays, where anything goes and even “the best of friends” are viciously contradictory. I’m sick of the tablet speculation already, and when some pompous know-it-all does a full analysis based on his own hot air, I get a bit annoyed.
On a lighter note- I followed you guys from MacCentral, and I do have to say- different strokes for different folks- still, Jim looks like he’s vomiting a hairball. Weirdest beard I’ve ever seen!
PS. I was also ticked off that he tried to make Jim look like a hopelessly loyal “Apple fanboy” who couldn’t come up with a credible reason to own an Apple tablet. He made Jim sound like an idiot. It was condescending, and another straw for the camel’s back as well as a loyalty to Jim, particularly because as a Mac musician, I relate to him far more than Joe Wilcox of Geek news.
where’s this article? I want to check it out.
Thanks, Peter. I can see his point, and there is a lot of valid thought in that article, but I definitely don’t agree with him. He keeps talking about it being middleware (between a laptop and smartphone) I don’t see it fitting into my life like that. If it’s even more capable than the iPhone I see it as a replacement for my laptop needs. The wife and I don’t do jack except email and internet on our iBook. I’ll have an iMac/desktop, a tablet for whatever I used my iBook for, and possibly a touch/iPhone for access on the go.
Browsing the web on an iPhone is alright, but it’s nowhere near good enough for me to surf on the couch for hours on end. (that’s completely ignoring the battery life issue) I want something with a decent size screen (where zooming isn’t necessary) and good battery life. If Apple can give that to me in a tablet with a decent price I’ll definitely bite.
The wording and the graphic on Apple's invite for the January 27 event certainly offer no clue that a tablet will be announced. I, for one, will NOT be surprised if Apple does not introduce a tablet but, rather, launches iLife '10 and iWork '10 which will include a killer combo vector-raster application and revamped iPhoto to take the place of AppleWorks' beloved Paint and Draw programs plus a graaphic editing program, kinda like a combo PhotoShop-Illustrator program.