Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Samsung to unveil new folding phones at July event

      24 June 2025

      Capital Appreciation banks on payments to offset software slump

      24 June 2025

      Crypto is becoming a ‘practical payment method’ in South Africa

      24 June 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      Tesla shares soar after first robo-taxi rides hit the road

      24 June 2025
    • World

      Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines hits $10-billion valuation

      24 June 2025

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E3: Behind Takealot’s revenue surge

      23 June 2025

      TCS | South Africa’s Sociable wants to make social media social again

      23 June 2025

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      South Africa risks being left behind as stablecoins reshape global finance

      6 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Duncan McLeod » iHype grows ahead of the iSlate

    iHype grows ahead of the iSlate

    By Editor27 January 2010
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Steve Jobs

    Never in the history of the computer industry has a product launch been this hyped. Not even Apple’s launch of the iPhone in 2007, or Microsoft’s launch of the Windows 95 operating system 15 years ago, garnered as much fevered speculation and anticipation as today’s launch by Apple CEO Steve Jobs of a tablet computer.

    For months, blogs and even the mainstream media have been carrying increasingly speculative and sometimes wild articles about how Jobs is going to reinvent the publishing industry — or even save it from an otherwise certain death.

    What’s remarkable about all this is that Apple has said not a word about its plans. True to form, Jobs hasn’t whispered a thing to anyone in the media about what he has up his sleeve. And those Apple has spoken to, such as publishers and electronics manufacturers, have said nary a word.

    It’s even possible, though highly unlikely, that Apple isn’t planning to announce a tablet computer at all.

    Imagine the look on tech journalists’ faces if he got on stage at the press conference in San Francisco today and announced not a tablet but something altogether less interesting, like new software for the iPhone, or a new range of MacBook computers.

    It would be amusing. But it’s not going to happen. Some sort of tablet-computing device is inevitable. If a tablet wasn’t on the cards, Apple would have quietly managed expectations to avoid a collapse in its share price. Apple stock is up 140% in the past 12 months, driven higher in part over the speculation about the tablet.

    Though bits and pieces of information have leaked out in recent weeks — most notably Apple’s discussions with book publishers such as HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill — it’s remarkable how little we actually know about Apple’s tablet just hours before its launch.

    Informed speculation — and speculation is all it is — suggests that the tablet will be called the iSlate, the iTablet or the iBook (of those, I personally like iBook best). It will also have a 10-inch touch screen, if the pundits are to be believed.

    It will act as a multimedia player — you’ll be able to listen to music and watch movies on it — and as an e-book reader.

    From there, the speculation gets less informed. Some websites have suggested the tablet will be a gaming device first and foremost. That’s interesting speculation given that Apple has never really been a force in the gaming market, except obliquely with the iPhone.

    Much of the pre-release excitement has focused on what the tablet could mean for the future of books and newspapers. Reports on Tuesday suggested that Apple had inked a deal with US bookseller Barnes & Noble. This could give Apple access to as many as 1m electronic books at launch.

    Newspaper publishers are also going to be watching the Jobs keynote with a great deal of interest. In the US, in particular, newspaper groups are desperate to stem the rout in circulation. Could Jobs’s tablet be a ray of light amid the deepening gloom? A report in the Los Angeles Times says developers from The New York Times have been camped out at Apple’s head office for several weeks.

    I suspect a lot of the focus during the keynote will be on how users will interact with the new tablet. It seems unlikely that it will have a tactile keyboard, so one assumes that Apple has developed a new way of using finger gestures to control the device. Some advanced version of the multi-touch system used on the iPhone seems likely. The device will probably also run a version of the iPhone operating system, rather than a scaled-down version of the Mac OS X that runs on Apple’s computer products.

    No-one knows how much it will cost, though most bets seem to be in the US$700 to $1 000 range. Of course, if the tablet has 3G connectivity, it may be subsidised by mobile carriers. And when will it launch? Possibly as early as March, though it’s all guesswork for now. And who really knows how long it will take to reach SA shores!

    We’ll know the details tonight (SA time) when Jobs, undoubtedly dressed in his trademark black polo neck and blue jeans, ascends the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and tries to live up the enormous hype that’s been created ahead the event.  — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral

    • Follow TechCentral on Twitter for live updates of this evening’s keynote
    • Steve Jobs image credit: Acaben
    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook


    Apple Barnes & Noble HarperCollins iBook iSlate iTablet McGraw-Hill Steve Jobs
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleChina’s ZTE lands R2,9bn Cell C network deal
    Next Article Two injured in Telkom blast in Yeoville – update 1

    Related Posts

    Apple shifts its AI strategy

    23 June 2025

    Stolen phone? Samsung now buys you an hour to lock it down

    18 June 2025

    Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

    17 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: beauty, brains and a battery that won’t quit

    24 June 2025

    Communication costs exploding? Telviva has a fix for UK-SA teams

    24 June 2025

    IoT connectivity management in South Africa – expert insights

    23 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.