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Apple to leapfrog netbook and go for touch tablet?

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 26 May, 2009

READ MORE: Apple | Netbook

Despite Microsoft's best efforts a few years ago, the tablet format has repeatedly failed to catch the imagination of users. But all the vendors are looking for the new 'killer format' that will bring together the PC and the phone. Samsung has shown off a sort of 'tablet-phone' hybrid, Nokia has hinted at one, some operators like Orange (with Tabbee) have tried their own hands at the form factor. And now Apple is said to be joining the party.

Most of this year, the Apple rumor mill has been focused on a 3G netbook, despite the scathing comments of CEO Steve Jobs and other Apple executives, both about the format and the low profit potential. To avoid a complete U-turn on that view - and to avoid having to eat into its margins by entering the sub-$300 PC segment - Apple needs to explore different device types, if it wants to multiply its revenue streams in the converged space.

Last week, a research note from Apple watchers Piper Jaffray suggested it had lighted on the 'tablet-phone' and was set to apply its multitouch patents and expertise to a larger display and a superlight PC. "We expect Apple to fill the gap between the iPod Touch and the MacBook with a new tablet device (not a netbook) priced at about $500-$700," lead analyst and report author Gene Munster wrote. "We are anticipating a new category of Apple products with an operating system more robust than the iPhone's, but optimized for multitouch, unlike Mac OS X."

The OS then, if Jaffray is right, would not be iPhone or Mac OS X, but would run App Store and iTunes, and could be just a version of the Mac system, adapted for better multitouch and mobility support.

"Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multitouch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from [Apple acting CEO]Tim Cook, and Apple's acquisition of PA Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise," wrote Munster.

As well as improving its appeal to the enterprise - where despite many enhancements, the iPhone has not seriously hurt the BlackBerry or Windows phones - a tablet could enable Apple to sell digital books and newspapers through the App Store, taking on Amazon Kindle and Kindle DX. This notion shows how applications and web services lie at the heart of Apple's competitive strategy these days, with cool devices there mainly to lure consumers into the software world, and the distinctive user interfaces geared to making it easy and attractive to download software and use internet services heavily.

Meanwhile, one of the iPhone's carrier partners, T-Mobile Austria apparently let slip the imminent arrival of a 32Gb version of the handset. It briefly published information about a 32Gb model on its web site, then quickly removed this. The only details were that the next iPhone would come with 32Gb memory, up from the current choices of 8Gb and 16Gb, and would be free with a top-end two-year data contract. Several carriers, including AT&T, are already reducing stocks of older models, or offering them with cut prices and/or cheaper data deals. And Vodafone Australia recently classed the current 16Gb phone as at the end of its lifecycle.