There are plenty of rumors running around right now about a so called ‘iTablet‘1 and most are probably on the money. Apple, still being run in absentia by Steve Jobs, is going to churn out a new money maker this fall, just in time for the Christmas season.
What if
the
new device
wasn’t just a
large iPod
Touch/Mac Book hybrid?What if the new device wasn’t just a large iPod Touch/Mac Book hybrid? But rather a new form factor that would push the limit on what we could do in our living rooms.
Imagine a portable Mac that is designed to sit in our house, near the couch. Think of it as an internet tablet that along with some special software would allow for remote controlling of a remote iTunes or AppleTV. (We’ve already seen the AppleTV iPhone app so this isn’t very hard to imagine.)
The tablet would also act as a remote TV, allowing the AppleTV to stream content to it, as well as acting as the controller. In this way, an AppleTV could stream to two TVs, the main TV, and a remote TV, be it a Mac or an iTablet.
Apple would be wise to port iPhone/Touch applications natively to this mini-computer and create similar simple interfaces for controlling remote devices or content. This would change the way the AppleTV and FrontRow’s interfaces work. Either would be able to be controlled by this new device, and instead of the simple menus we know now, we would see instead and iPhone like interface that is much easier to handle.
If Apple were smart, and we all know they are, this device could eventually be used as a giant multi-touch input device for any Mac you care to hook it up to. I don’t think it would bite much in Wacom’s market space but it would be cool to have a nice large multi-touch display that could be used with any Mac.
Now is the time for Apple to do something different than everyone else. Everyone is crying for a tablet or a MID or a Netbook. However I think they can redefine the playing field a little by introducing a simple computer, that one it’s own doesn’t have a whole lot of computing power, but it would embrace and extend the Apply line, thus bringing some needed value to the brand.
With that said, the AppleTV would certainly need a refresh. In fact, it’s been long overdue for one. Wouldn’t it make perfect sense that Apple has been holding back on the new versions until the new tablet is ready? Could we see Jobs return during the summer/fall to an event that introduces a new product along with a refresh of an old friend?
With the sales at the AppStore nearing 1 billion, does it not make sense to get those apps on yet another device, a new market previously unexploited?
