Apple is a culture. Don’t believe me? Walk into a Wilson or Furman lecture hall and be blinded by the brushed steel, white light, LED produce that resembles a new age grocer. If you catch someone without it, look waist level; chances are they are thumbing away at half-pint crab-apple iPhone. As you sit down, the inescapable signature type-writer clicking buzzes through the air. It’s just a way of life adopted by Vanderbilt; it’s the it gadget, the cool brand, the classroom accessory that goes with everything. And January 27th, it’s adding another piece of fruit to the bowl.
The Name: “iSlate,” “iTab,” or “iGuide”
Speculation flew after a data-mining rumor-monger Mark Gurman discovered that a senior branding exec at apple registered the online domain “islate.com” under a dummy company in 2007, right after Apple acquired a company that created multi-touch monitors. For this reason, the online techie community has dubbed the “next coming” gadget the “iSlate.” More recent findings have discovered that this was not the only domain purchased secretly, as both “iTab,” and “iGuide” have been nabbed up by those surreptitious Apple execs. Well everyone is a little bit right here. Here are my thoughts: the original concept was to call the machine iSlate, a hip reference thin slabs of rock that share a texture and feel of Apple’s aesthetic. Problems arose when they realized that it rhymed with some negatively associated words, “hate” and “isolate.” Two of the most important aspects of Apple are its ability to establish community, which leads to their hip followers that are impossible to bash. First, “isolate” evokes the exact opposite feeling of community, as it separates you from those around you rather than bringing you closer to your “cool” friends. Secondly, slate rhyming with hate too easily invites other companies to throw up one viral slander campaign after another. “Everyone hates iSlate,” and other taglines would pop up on soon-to-be rival Google searches (Google’s smart phone is quickly approaching to steal market share from the crab apple). So this leaves the other two names, “iTab” and “iGuide.” They are both the names of Apple’s new product.
The Function:
The second heated online debate surrounds the function of the new device. Is it a tablet Pc: a virtual doodle pad for notes, class and those artistically inclined, or an E-reader: Apple’s attempt to drown the “Kindle?” Well, It’s both. This 10” over-sized iPhone will have the full functionality of a tablet PC with built in “Kindle-ish” software, dubbed “iGuide.” How do I know? iGuide Media was a patent purchased by Apple senior exec Regina Porter, cited as a service, not product. The new iTunes is coming. This iTunes is based more for the carbon-o-philes: those people who prefer reading books, flipping through magazines, and reading the paper, more than the YouTube-loving, “I’ve got movies on my computer” youngsters Apple is known for. The iGuide software operates by offering low rate subscriptions to newspapers, magazines and books, and will no doubt come packaged with the simplistic beauty Apple makes profits from. Their hoop dream? Integrate collegiate and high school textbooks on the machine’s hard drive so trendy students don’t lug around massive spine-bending backpacks, but pull out the thin, sleek Apple machine from their purse or carry it around with them to class. Their after-market stylus (I predict they will sell by launch), will give the student the ability to take notes on the text or next to it with the built in tablet software. It’s a game-changer.
The Cost:
The iTab will be sandwiched between the iPhone and iMac, somewhere around 700-900 dollars.
When can you buy it:
Still up in the air (sorry). It may be announced the 27th, but it won’t ship until March at the earliest and next holiday season at the latest. One thing for sure, Apple insiders are counting on it for 2010 rev.
