In 24 hours we’ll find out what the Apple Tablet looks like, what it can do, and what Apple wants us to use the Tablet for. But in the mean time we can speculate and empose our wishes on to this potential device. Plus, it is fun to take the pulse of the community to see what their expections are just before the device is real.
So, by far, the number one task users want from the Tablet is to be able to browse the Web. Nearly 50% of all respondants mentioned this as one of three things they would like to do. And it is pretty certain that no matter what form the Tablet takes that we should have a version of Safari on the device. The iPhone and iPod Touch do, so it would be a no-brainer that the Tablet will as well.
Second, with about 36% was “reading books.” Clearly there is the idea that the Tablet will compete with the Kindle here. In fact, if the sales match up with the hype then it should soon outpace the Kindle as the number one eBook reader.
Email came in third, with 30% of people wanting to read and send email on the Tablet. It’s a sure bet that the Tablet will support this as well, whether it is a Mac or a iPod Touch-like device.
The only surprise at the bottom of the 16-item list is that games ended up 11th, with only 12% interested in playing games. Some analysts have even speculated that games will be the primary function of the Tablet. If there is an app store for the Tablet, it is certain to be dominated by games like the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store.
Here is the original poll with results:
Before we find out what the tablet looks like, what it does, and what it can be used for, tell MacMost what you think. Based on your guess about what the tablet will be, what would you be most likely to use an Apple Tablet device for? Select 3 answers. If you have a top-3 idea that isn’t listed, answer in the comments section below.
What would you be most likely to use an Apple Tablet device for?
- Surfing the Web (47%, 145 Votes)
- Reading books (36%, 111 Votes)
- Email (30%, 94 Votes)
- Watching video (25%, 78 Votes)
- Reading news (21%, 65 Votes)
- Image/Photo editing (16%, 51 Votes)
- Organization (To do lists, project tracking) (16%, 50 Votes)
- Drawing/Illustration (15%, 48 Votes)
- Reading magazines (15%, 47 Votes)
- Social networking (Facebook, etc) (13%, 41 Votes)
- Playing games (12%, 38 Votes)
- Writing (11%, 34 Votes)
- Listening to music (8%, 24 Votes)
- Messaging (SMS, Twitter, etc) (7%, 22 Votes)
- Word processing (6%, 19 Votes)
- Databases/spreadsheets (6%, 19 Votes)
Total Voters: 311
I would probably use it most often as a universal remote control and TV guide as a companion for interactive TV watching.
I think this will be the at home portable media player. Stream from Apple TV, play downloaded movies, vidcasts, etc... and reading subscribed content.
I think I will be doing a fair bit of Skype-ing with this device -- and doing video chats while making lunch, washing up etc sometimes, with the tablet in some kind of stand which I guess will be an Apple-branded extra purchase initially then other companies will produce other designs over time.
I think it's going to be able to do everything the iPhone & magic mouse does now but somthing tells me AT&T is going to ruin it for us with some sort of outragous fee to possibly dock & tether it to iPhone 4G (that will most likley have an OLED screen.)
iPhone 4G will most likley have the OLED screen not the iSlate, iPad, iTablet, or Newton II...all those names are cool except iPad I guess.
Would like to be able to read music with it.Glare proof screen would be nice.Could be connected to third party hardware mods? Foot switch to turn pages?
That's a cool idea! Sit my new tablet on the piano and swipe it with my finger or hit the foot switch to move to the next page.
Also, it would be awesome to be able to write music using it, like the whole thing turns into composition paper and you can notate like you would with a pencil and paper. Then you could export as midi and bring it into Logic. Sweet!
John i have been dreaming of that type of application for years how realistic do you think it is?
Very realistic in that it certainly can be made. Whether a developer finds it worthwhile to build is another matter. Is there a big enough market? The iPhone app market is now 140,000 apps and many are 99 cents. How many need to be sold at 99 cents or even 9.99 for a developer to profit from it?
My hope is it is a kindle of sorts. I received a kindle for Christmas and returned it...in hope that the new device apple comes out will be a reader. Pin and needles waiting.
A tablet machine to me would be most useful in a lecture type setting where the teacher is drawing on the board. With a tablet I'd love to be able to easily make notes while being able to draw diagrams as well.
I am not envisioning this the way we think of doing it now. Rather I would like to see Apple take this concept to a whole new level where it feels just like having a pen and paper in hand.