Extraordinary IT.
What Has Apple Got in Store for Us Next?
Early yesterday morning (about 6am in Sydney) Apple unveiled their revolutionary iPhone. While most of the technology media is be focused on iPhone, I’m far more excited by the Multi-Touch technology it uses and the other types of products we can expect it to appear in. If you aren’t excited about Multi-Touch yet, you should be.
In a vast oversimplification, Multi-Touch is a new type of touch sensitive screen. Typically the touch screens you would have seen before (like that used on a photo printing kiosk) are far from responsive and basically simulate normal mouse clicks or drags. Multi-Touch however (as the name implies) supports multiple touch inputs, is far more responsive and usable and is designed as an input device in its one right, not just a mouse simulator.
In examples demonstrated on the iPhone you can scroll with just a slide of your finger on the screen, you can make a pinching gesture to zoom in on a photo and the opposite to zoom out. Rather than continuing to try to describe it to you and failing to do it justice have a look at the following Multi-Touch demonstrations:
Now do you understand why I’m excited?
So far Apple have only announced Multi-Touch in the iPhone, but if you are familiar with the tablet PC concept, you should be thinking of how Apple can apply their Multi-Touch technology in this area. Tablet PCs have failed to take off mainly because their input mechanisms are so poor; replace their standard touch screens with Multi-Touch screens and all of a sudden you have a very usable and very attractive product.
But tablet PCs are not the only application; imagine a MacBook where the keyboard and touch pad are replaced with a screen (i.e a dual screen MacBook). You could be doing Photoshop work with all your tools and pallets on the bottom screen and the photo you’re manipulating on the top screen. Imaging you’re editing a document, flip the dual screen MacBook on its side (so you are holding it like a book), the page rotates and the keyboard disappears and is replaced by another page. Slide you finger across one of the screens and it flips the page. Rotate the MacBook back to its normal position and it returns to editing mode. I could very easily go on.
Rumors of an iTablet surfaced in 2004, driven by Apple’s application for a tablet PC patent. This patent was lodged in March 2004, quite some time before a similar patent for what appears to be the iPhone (I can’t find the link any more, can anyone else?). All things being equal (yes I know, all things are never equal) and given the iPhone will appear on US shelves in June, iTablets / Dual Screen MacBooks could be ready now. So why was there no iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook announcement at Macworld yesterday morning?
iPhone is scheduled for a US release in June this year, making the iPhone announcement very early by Apple standards (they generally like to keep things quite right up until the last possible moment). Apple announced the iPhone now because they need to get FCC approval before they can sell it in the US and as Steve Jobs said "we're announcing it today because we have to go get FCC approval… we thought it'd be better to introduce this today rather than let the FCC introduce this". The FCC releasing information that Apple has requested approval for a mobile phone certainly would not have been as interesting as this morning’s keynote. iTablets / Dual Screen MacBooks however would just be computers as far as the FCC is concerned, which means that there is no need for Apple to announce an iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook until just before its ready; traditional Apple style.
Also an announcement of an iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook at the same time as the iPhone would result in the products having to share the media limelight. By announcing the iPhone now, they can let it get all the media attention it deserves and when things settle down a bit and the iTablets / Dual Screen MacBooks are ready, they can make another huge announcement.
So when do I think the iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook will be announced? Here are my thoughts:
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5% – iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook will be announced over the coming week.
Possible but unlikely. Any announcement now would draw media attention away from the iPhone.
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75% – iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook will be announced in the US "spring 2007″.
OS X Leopard is due to be released around this time and Apple might just decide to unveil a revolutionary OS with revolutionary computers. The average person doesn’t care too much about operating systems, so by releasing them together they can use the iTablet / Dual Screen MacBook to boost awareness of Leopard. I can image the marketing approach would be along the lines of "The worlds most advanced computers; OS X Leopard is the only OS advanced enough to run them".
Also, when the iPhone is released in June 2007, many people will be eagerly awaiting it arrival. This would be the perfect time to have iTablets and Dual Screen MacBooks ready on the shelves in Apple stores. This way while you are waiting in to buy your iPhone, Apple can woo you with their iTablets and Dual Screen MacBooks.
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20% – Some time after June 2007.
There may be problems at the moment scaling Multi-Touch screens from the 3.5″ used in the iPhone to the 15″ used in the MacBooks without them becoming stupidly expensive and Apple may decide to wait until Mutli-Touch screens become more affordable.
I think iTablets and Dual Screen MacBooks will be the next major hardware announcement from Apple. I’ll be in the market for a new laptop in April, so I’m crossing my figures and hoping for an iTablet / Dual Screen Macbook announcement over the next week or the next few months. Failing any announcement then, I’ll definitely be waiting for iPhone release in June 2007 before making any purchasing decisions. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long.
Update: 2007.04.13
Apple has just announced that Leopard will be delayed until October. My prediction is now for a October 2007 release.
Update: 2009.06.30
And still I wait…
OK, I was wrong. Oh so very wrong.
6 Responses to “What Has Apple Got in Store for Us Next?”
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@oatmealsnap. I agree that Apple usually produces a new twist on existing products rather than releasing new technologies, with that twist falling usually falling into the “better UI” category. They did this with the iPod (mp3 player with a click wheel interface) and are going to do it with the iPhone (smart phone with Multi-Touch). I feel a dual-screen Macbook or multi-touch iTablet fall within the same category of innovation.
Regarding your question, yes, it is suspected that the patent you mention is related to Multi-Touch. I think MacRumors had an article relating the patent to the first YouTube video above.
I think that the dual-screen Macbook is a really cool idea, but i doubt that it will happen. Apple is rarly the first to impliment a new technology. They usually take a new twist on what has already been done. (ex:The iPhone is basically a Blackberry or Blackjack but with significant upgrades) Although we can dream, I highly doubt that the iTable or dual-screen Macbook are in he near future. (I also remember hearing somewhere that Jobs said he is againt the Tablet PC. He chose the iPhone idea over the “iTablet” idea. Maybe i just made that up though…can’t remember)
Now a question:
Apple took out a patent on a type of screen which uses tiny camera between each pixel than, all together, make a webcam. Is this the same tachnology? or possible a form of it? (like, instead of seeing an entire picture, it just reads dark and light)
You can find some information about touch screens with tactile feedback at http://www.advanced-input.com/Touch_Feedback1.html
or they may choose to use their “mechanical overlay” patent http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/11/16/apple.touchscreen.patent/
@Nikos
You may be right, but think about what was actually released at this keynote, the *apple*TV. That’s it. Nothing else. When Leopard is released there will be some sort of presentation by Steve and a good opportunity to make up for the lack of product releases this keynote.
Re tactile feedback: I vaguely remember reading something about that. I’ll have to hunt it down.
Re the ModBook: Nope haven’t seen it and haven’t heard of it till now and all I can think is “No Thanks”. I can’t imagine typing with a stylus.
Gah, i never call myself nikos, where did that come from?
Following apples pattern of product release, we can’t expect to see new apple products until their next keynote, which is close to summer 2007.
I don’t really see a dual screen macbook as viable, a major part of typing productively is tactile feedback from a keyboard. In order to not watch a keyboard while you type, you need to be able to feel the key press.
Did you happen to see the after market ModBook? It’s a macbook converted to a tablet by otherworldcomputing (one of the largest apple after market upgrade providers). It was unveiled at macworld, the same day as the iPhone.
It’s not a true tablet, as you have to use the wacom pen to interact with the screen, and it’s a horrible implementation in my opinion.
I like where apple is going with this multi-touch technology, i’d like to see it implemented in some of their cinema displays, It would be awesome for creative professionals.