Jim Dalrymple’s Tablet Prognostications

Another good (and interesting) set of predictions. I hadn’t really thought about it much, but Dalrymple is calling for two tablet models, exactly like the iPhone and iPod Touch — same rough specs except one of them will have 3G and the other will be Wi-Fi only. That raises the question of which carrier(s). I’ll go out on a limb and say “not AT&T”.

Dalrymple also predicts that the tablets will run a next-gen release of iPhone OS, will support existing iPhone OS apps, and will work with Bluetooth keyboards. OK, but then:

  • Existing iPhone apps could be made to run on a 10-inch display, either by scaling them or by running them as small on-screen widgets that only take up a quarter of the display. But that doesn’t work both ways: any app designed to use the full 10-inch display could never run on a 3.5-inch display.

  • And, as for keyboards, that’d be welcome, but if the tablets are running “the exact same operating system that is used in the iPhone” wouldn’t that mean that Bluetooth keyboard support is coming to iPhones and iPod Touches too?

★ Friday, 8 January 2010