they also don't know how to build a over-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk...

You win teh interwebs!

Funny, I always thought Mac formatted HD floppies were 1.6MB, as are Acorn ADFS ones.

Wuh-whats that?

Its an iHouse!

But theres no windows!

Exactly! Bwa hah hah hah!

(sorry people, but it had to be said)

@Mike Richards:

3. Apple could be prepping a piece of junk.

And @Richard Porter:

No, the HD drives were 1.4 MB, as opposed to 1.44 MB on MS DOS. AmigaDOS had 1.76 MB.

"Although if the PC market continues to implode, Apple just might have to learn how."

For Apple, there has been no implosion, in fact, they have reported increases in sales. Not that I own any Apple products... if they are genuinely "higher quality" they can sustain this position. After all, people still buy from John Lewis (Nieman Marcus is a loose equivalent for US readers - sans the lowest price promise of John Lewis).

Obviously they're going to release an iPod for the modern day teenager. Apple has simply recognised that most teenagers won't read anything unless it comes with big letters and plenty of pictures to colour. I think they missed the boat myself, and should have done something similar to Leapfrog instead, so teens could learn to phonetically sound out the names of the bands they want to listen to.

The last model was discontinued in June 2006, not quite three years ago. There are still plenty in use, so making a tablet iBook might be too confusing.

On the other hand, the SuperDrive switch was made in just under one year. The last Mac that shipped with a floppy SuperDrive was the PowerBook G3 (Bronze Keyboard, aka Lombard), which was discontinued in February 2000. The first optical SuperDrive was in the PowerMac G4 (Digital Audio), released in January 2001.

They might call it the iBook Tablet, or just iTablet. Maybe the iPad, since it acts more like a pad of paper than a book that opens.

Apple are already helping the teens. The new shuffle says the name of the track they are listening to. No need to learn to read at all now.

Whatever your view of Apple I wouldn't underestimate them. Whatever it is is will be interesting and set the bar high for all other contenders

Paris cos its good for porn

Could be they just don't "call" it a computer.

Make it proprietary, a dedicated Itunes player / shop / photoframe which comes as a part of your iCool (tm) apple refigerator.

Just like MS always is trying to sell set top / webpc's / cloud computers, this could be the i-phone for at home.

Just don't call it a computer....

Sounds like the screen's _still_ a bit too small to do any real sketching on, for us media/design/arts types. Still, it looks like somebody -- hoorah, Apple -- is getting a step closer to making me my Newspad at long, long last (yeah, that's right, screw the flying cars).

For you non-Kubrick fans:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v-OFRUU6CaM/SA-c-TPK-zI/AAAAAAAACAs/5NeCALK6z14/s320/newspad.jpg

...what Cdr Bowman is watching himself being interviewed on the BBC on while eating his microwaved reconstituted scrambled eggs...also what he uses to record his messages to Houston on, and jacks into to HAL from anywhere on the ship on, and a zillion other nifty things.

@ Tom, re: "If they are going to reuse a name..." : I don't think they'd revive "Newton", owing to previous reminders of poor performance, especially handwriting recognition. I think "MacPad" would be totally sweet, although they'll probably go with "iPad" (groannnn).

And, as far as a n3tbook goes -- that is, just enough computer to use the 'Net and do a little basic work -- I think I saw a comment on this very site to the effect that Apple already made a netb66k, and it's called the G3 iBook.

MacFreak since 1985 (bite me, WinBoi),

mf

(Jobs with a halo, only because El Reg still doesn't have the old-school "smilin' Mac" boot-time icon yet)

Surely the larger version of an iPod Touch is an iPod Feel?

Mine's the one with the fake left arm that leaves me one hand free...

You complain about Apple's lock-in and compatibility problems, but what OS do you run? I hope it's Linux.

i'll get me coat now .. :)

http://www.osnews.com/story/21075/Want_Touch_Book

Ok, it's not 10", but it is rather cool, and runs cooler than a penguin (geddit?) thanks to the exclusion of Atom.

I'm rather surprised TheReg hasn't written an article on this one!

Ahh, I see they have. It's even linked from this article. Serves me right for skim reading before my boss catches me.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/03/03/touch_book/

Crystal Ball: Apple's $599 "iPad Touch" Netbook (with pictures)

http://samj.net/2009/03/crystal-ball-apples-599-ipad-netbook.html

Sam

...since a touchscreen would bring phone/touch-like interface to a laptop, doing away with the mouse. Maybe even still include a physical keyboard, making it a considerable step forward for a netbook-like device.

I think a gigantic iPod Touch would be a great idea. No need to go down the underpowered x86 route with short battery life, when you could use the latest ARM Cortex chip which would make the Touch's interface fly, even when scaled up to to a 10" display. The only thing I wouldn't like, no doubt, would be the price.

Carry on baiting.....

You're a master.

I think you'll find the Newspad is credited to Arthur C Clarke not Kubrick

Clarke has similar "web" devices of various size and function in a few of his books

i'm not i see the point of a 10" Touch (as it were)

and then again, a 10" screen isn't really going to be able to replace my macbook

so in a way, i'm hoping it's not an iTablet, because if it is, i'll be buying it, but i'll be wishing the screen was bigger the whole time

the announcement date for this item is blindingly obvious

it'll be when Jobs returns to the public world again - let the new guy do all the press stuff for a few months, and when there's a major new product, Steve will be back on the stage.

in fact, i can see them doing a Snow Leopard keynote, and the "one more thing" will be this tablet thing