It’s mid-January, and the date is fast approaching. Our sweaty palms and anxious fingers click away, searching for more tablet rumors, more secrets specs on Apple’s iSlate. Apple has always been the quiet, mysterious company when it came to new products—nothing for months and then all of a sudden Apple announces a new lineup of Mac hardware. We applaud Steve Jobs’ strategy: It keeps the consumers waiting and wanting and hungry for whatever Apple-stamped gadget may be thrown at them.
But with the variety of tablet PCs on the market right now and the multitude revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, where does Apple stand with its long-awaited wonder slate? Digital Trends Editor Scott Steinberg feels that if anyone stands a chance of bringing a tablet PC or slate device to mainstream popularity, it’s Apple. Steinberg admits that even with the increasing number of companies jumping into this newfound tablet space, Steve Jobs and company may be the most successful in it. “If they’re able to position it like an iPhone, but with a larger screen, then Apple may be able to crack the market,” says Steinberg. “The reality is that in many ways the iPhone has been a prototype for this type of technology all along.”
Steinberg has big hopes for the Apple tablet—he sees it as having the potential to be the tablet PC to end all tablet systems, just as the iPhone has become the de facto smartphone standard in the mobile market. He also considers that the future of other categories of electronics entirely may be affected by Apple’s new slate. “We keep hearing about eReaders, but a tablet like Apple’s could well render all those devices irrelevant,” he claims. This has been a common notion and fear within the tech industry—Apple once again will develop something that works across an array of platforms and with ultimate functionality—rendering other new technologies obsolete.
Steinberg is confident though that other companies—as always—will continue to challenge Apple’s innovations. The tablet wars have just begun, he says, and it may be too early in the game to see an actual outcome. Other titans like Microsoft and Google will continue to “fight the good fight,” and put considerable effort and manpower towards launching projects aimed at gaining a foothold in this space. “If anything, don’t judge a slate by its cover,” says Steinberg.
In the consumer electronics industry, some products define an entire category, owing to their sheer excellence and lasting presence. They are far and few, though. The iPad is one such product, and it has continued to blaze its path for nearly a decade and a half. It has gotten faster, slimmer, and more popular than ever. For most shoppers out there, the first choice for buying a tablet is often an iPad. Over the years, Apple has diversified the iPad family to cover everything from a budget browsing and video streaming machine to a premium mainstream computing machine for demanding workflows.
What’s happened? Apple has rolled out what might be its final major update for its current software platforms ahead of its total overhaul across all devices this fall. The iOS 18.6 update has rolled out to iPhone users, with other Apple devices also seeing an update in the form of iPadOS 18.6, macOS Sequoia 15.6, watchOS 11.6, tvOS 18.6, and visionOS 2.6. The summer months often mark the release of numerous new Android phones – most recently, we’ve seen many of the best foldables launch, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Honor Magic V5 – but for fans of Apple’s ecosystem, it offers a glimpse into the future of Apple’s software.
WWDC is one of the most eagerly awaited events of the year, as Apple unveils the features that will set the iPhone apart over the next year, as well as breathe new life into many of the best iPhones of yesteryear. Occasionally, WWDC can focus on the features that impact the entire ecosystem, while at other times, Apple can focus specifically on one or two products.
