Twenty-four hours from now, Apple finally will have revealed its newest product plans to the world. If you thought the prediction punditry was in full swing, you haven’t seen anything yet. Until the thing, whatever it may be, is on sale to the masses, there will be no end to the media frenzy.
That said, here are a few of my predictions for Apple’s new product as well as a few other things we might learn at tomorrow’s announcement. (This is also my inaugural blog post, so I thought what better topic than this to start writing.)
I have no insider knowledge (how would I?) nor any contacts at Apple to speak of. This is all just me handicapping while standing at the betting window. Here are my picks.
1. It is indeed a tablet computer with a screen size greater than seven inches diagonally but smaller than eleven inches. The screen will be a glossy OLED with a very high pixel density per inch. Prepare to be able to watch 720p video on it.
2. Forget iSlate or iPad. I predict Apple will lean away from the “i-” prefix on this one. Look for them to call it simply “Tablet.” The long shot name in this race is “Canvas,” where I’m making my bet. The more I say Apple Canvas, the more it rolls off my tongue. It’s a razor sharp name. (Deep in my heart, I wish they would resurrect the name “Newton.”)
3. Apple will stick to their product design motifs that we’ve seen in their most recent iMacs and MacBooks Pro. Look for small screen bezels, where the screen approaches the very edge of the device, like the newest iteration of iMac. Think giant iPhone, but differentiated in more ways than size alone. A milled aluminum unibody design will provide a nice sturdy form factor, that feels easy and safe to carry around, particularly since people might feel wary about slinging around such a large glass screen.
4. Speaking of the screen, it will be a glossy, capacitive, multitouch glass surface that will dominate the front (top?) of the new device. I can’t wait to see the third-party after market book covers, cases and sleeves that will be announced next week. Make sure whatever you carry your new Apple tablet in, you have some microfiber wipes–that screen will get greasy with fingerprints fast. Unless Apple ships an oleophobic screen that is oil-resistant much like the iPhone 3GS screen.
5. There will be no keyboard, except for a virtual keyboard, a la iPhone.
6. A discreet 30-pin dock connector will connect it to iTunes on your Mac or PC, which will be the exclusive conduit to sync content to the device.
7. As far as wireless connectivity, there will be fast 802.11n, Bluetooth and 3G wireless connectivity available via iPhone tethering which AT&T will finally get out the door. Here’s a long shot to tempt the bettors out there: free token 3G connectivity provided by Verizon, a la Amazon Kindle’s Whispernet service. Don’t expect much though. This device is going to have a voracious appetite for bandwidth. Certain apps on the device might be allowed to access the free bandwidth though. Maybe a book reader app, or the iTunes store apps?
8. Speaking of apps, Apple will unveil the SDK for developers to get to work creating applications for the new tablet tomorrow. If you’re used to coding for iPhone and Mac, get ready for a great hybrid experience. There will be slightly more horsepower under the hood to take advantage of in the tablet, but developers will already feel right at home with iPhone-esque APIs.
9. It will take devs some time to ramp up, but not much. Still, the App Store for the tablet will not be available at product launch. So, expect a wave of full screen web applications first. I’d even consider a long shot wager here that the preferred SDK is web-based, much like the Palm Pre. Game developers won’t sit still for that though. They want some access to the bare metal that native APIs provide. And this thing will be an awesome game platform, with multitouch and accelerometers exactly like the iPhone.
10. Just like the iPhone, don’t expect much access to the filesystem, if any. Files will belong to their apps, and you won’t have much awareness of where they’re located on the device. And the only way you’re getting apps on this machine is via the App Store. If you want to distribute your app any other way, then build a web application, and charge for access to it via your own gateway if you want.
11. No camera on the front or back. Believe it. This adheres to Apple’s less-is-more design approach. You wouldn’t carry around a legal pad-sized camera around, would you? Plus, with how folks will sit and use this device, there’s no comfortable way to capture video of yourself with a front-facing camera. There will be a kick-ass photo management tool, similar to iPhoto on the Mac. But you’ll be working with photos you sync or download.
12. Look for Apple to announce awesome content deals tomorrow. All of our old media will be represented: film, television, books, newspapers and magazines will all be represented tomorrow. Sadly, not terrestrial radio. I’m not certain the experiment of putting a radio tuner in the iPod Nano recently generated much excitement or buzz outside the radio industry. Plus, Apple is interested in expanding streaming iTunes options with its recent acquisition of Lala. Long shot bet? A built-in book reader app where you can buy titles from major publishers via iTunes. Bah. That’s not a long-shot. Safe bet all the way.
13. The tablet will go on sale in March. Which means end of March. Look for it to cost $799 (32 GB) or $999 (64 GB). Sound pricey? It probably is, and there will be a lot of gnashing of teeth if it’s any higher (which it may very well be). Apple wants to protect its strong profit margins though, and 30-ish% margins on hardware is where they make their money.
That’s all I’ve got folks. If I keep writing, they won’t be predictions anymore. I expect the product, presentation and resulting hype to be remarkable. I don’t think we should latch on to the concept of tablet, slate or whatever the form factor is (though I think that’s what everyone will want to talk about most). Instead, this is a replacement for a very large segment of personal computing, with a big emphasis on personal.
You should follow the live blog coverage at Engadget or TUAW tomorrow, starting just before 1 p.m. ET. I’ll be tweeting the parts I find awesome.