Looking for Apple's Tablet Screen? Look to Pixel Qi

There's a lot we don't know about Apple's rumored tablet. But here's what we do know: It will need a screen, it will need to serve as a (color) e-reader, and it will need to do it all with super low power consumption. Oh, and either to pad Apple's bottomline, or to offer the device at a jaw-dropping low price, it will need to be cheap. And let's throw in the ability to view it in bright sunlight while we're at it.

At first it sounds like a unicorn of the tech world. Surely all these things aren't possible, maybe in ten years, but not now, right? Not quite.

Earlier we mentioned Nicholas Negroponte's lecture this week, regarding the design of the OLPC laptop. He had nothing but good things to say about the display on the device:

"This was key: How do you build a display that was both reflective and transmissive. Which has been done before, but not at a price anybody could afford. And she found a way to do it, and I believe in the next couple of months you'll see this appear, in the eBook market, which would be really interesting, because if somebody in the eBook market makes a display that is both transmissive and reflective, it's going to be a very different ball game."

Let's back up a second to the "she" Negroponte is referring to: That's Mary Lou Jepsen, former OLPC chief technology officer who has since left to form Pixel Qi, a company founded to commercialize the same revolutionary display technology. Pixel Qi's VP of Engineering is none other than Dr. Carlin Vieri who came to Pixel Qi from Apple, where according to his bio on the company site, "he engineered new generation display electronics for the iPhone and other devices."

See how we're connecting the dots? We wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Pixel Qi acquired by Apple just around the same time as the tablet is announced. No need to clue the competition to your display choice early. It would be similar to Apple's acquisition of Fingerworks just before multitouch at Apple took off. 

A very different ball game, indeed.

Steve Jobs: Unseen Hand Behind The OLPC Laptop

You might not expect Steve Jobs to have anything to do with a $100 laptop project, but it turns out nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, Jobs informally consulted with OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte at several points along the design process.

"I got an email from Steve Jobs (the night the laptop was revealed) he said you can't build it for a hundred dollars, and my answer was oh yes I can," Negroponte said as part of a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Thursday night.

"He was actually a very good critic, and each time we got to a point, I did talk to him," Negroponte added. Negroponte also mentioned his displeasure with Microsoft, both in terms of Windows 7 performance, and Microsoft's attempts to thwart the OLPC initiative.

Negroponte was upbeat in his assessment of OLPC deployments so far, and said there's a $75 price target for the next model, described as a single, flexible device comprising both the display and keyboard.

Could this give us some insight to the rumored Apple tablet? Check our next post...

We're Optimizing For The New Apple Tablet Too!

We optimized for this too...Everyone's a little bummed around TDL HQ today. Why? Because Wired beat us to the punch. Yes, it's been reported that Wired is optimizing its content for the not-yet-released Apple tablet. Why does this bother us, you ask? Because we're doing the same thing.

Our sources indicate the Apple tablet will be able to browse the internet. As a result, quite some time ago we made the decision to make our webpages available via the internet. Another insider claims the device will be able to render colors. Again, we made the decision quite some time ago to post our pages in color rather than black and white, with the knowledge this would allow our content to be seen on the groundbreaking, yet-to-be-seen, nobody knows what it is device.

I have to be careful with the NDAs here, but let's just say we have credible evidence this device might even playback audio and video. Hey, you didn't think we created a video channel of Apple news, reviews, and lifestyle, just for the stale old internet, did you?

So I'm rallying the troops, and telling them to hold their heads high. After all, just wait until you see what we have in store for Safari 5. In the meantime, let's stop talking about the damn tablet, okay?

After the Tablet, What's Next For Apple?

In the world of trying to predict what's next for Apple, you can never be too far ahead. So we say, let's leapfrog over this whole tablet thing, and go straight to the next paradigm-shifting device: The _______. After the tablet, what's left? Apple has conquered the world of digital music. The iPhone is well on the way to dominating smartphone and/or all phone sales. The tablet could re-invent a sleepy product category, but then what? 

Maybe we see an Apple-branded TV, but that would feel like a small evolution: most likely taking a monitor from one of the big manufacturers, and throwing an Apple TV in it. 

While we would never count Apple out when it comes to re-defining a product category, or creating a brand new one, perhaps we're nearing the end of the golden age of hardware advances. Apple could conceivably put a gaming console on the market, but the Pippin didn't do too well. Sure, these are different times, but it's also a market with three strong console manufacturers, and becoming the fourth wouldn't guarantee success. (bear in mind no one is making iPhone money in console hardware sales, with most breaking even.)

One possible future frontier for Apple would be services. Who wouldn't want to see cable television re-envisioned? Or maybe Apple would become a phone carrier. As far-fetched as these ideas sound, the company will have to go further and further afield to find new product categories/services. iPhones will get cheaper, iPods will get smaller, Macs will get faster, and tablets will get whatever it is tablets get. But the question is, will that be enough for Apple, or will they branch even further from their computer roots?

What Do We Want a Tablet To Do?

A tablet from Apple. It's been one of the longest running rumors in Apple history, right up there with the iPhone. I have to say though, the iPhone rumors were far more exciting. Why? We all knew Apple would take something we use everyday, and transform it into something far more sophisticated/useful/powerful. Who was thrilled with their cell phone circa 2004-2007?

The tablet rumors though, have always lacked a bit of the same enthusiasm. Yes, many of us are excited to see what Apple will bring to the product space, but very few people are using tablets now, and so the anticipation of a product that will transform the product category isn't nearly as great. 

While the iPod was introduced at a time when mp3 players weren't yet popular, people were already building collections of mp3's, and clearly the idea of having all your music with you is appealing to the masses.

Which brings us back to the tablet. The last time Apple introduced a product in a category very few people were dabbling in, we got Apple TV, which Jobs famously referred to as a "hobby" once it became clear this wasn't an out-of-park hit like the iPod or iPhone.

One of the problems with a tablet is it's hard to get a handle on exactly what we as consumers want it to do. Do we want it to be a device for watching/streaming media? Wouldn't be easier/cheaper/and more convenient to stream to a large TV instead? Do we want it to be a kindle competitor? If e-reader is the main function of the tablet, again it looks like Apple is dipping into a market that may not actually be there. What about rumors of it being pressure sensitive to be used as a graphics tablet? While that would be nirvana for some, it seems those people would constitute a tiny percentage of all computer users. The same goes for rumors of the ability to use the tablet as a second screen with your Mac. Wouldn't a larger/bigger second screen be a better buy?

Again, there are small groups who would inevitably want the device for these reasons, but for the masses these are mostly tacked on features that would not alone make the device compelling enough to buy. The modern Apple philosophy involves selling tons of widgets to the masses (why do you think we never saw that "Asteroid" audio interface box?) rather than obscure products aimed at small groups.

When you can do so much on the iPhone now, and the idea of carrying a second, bigger device with you outside the house seems unlikely in 2009, (remember Palm's nixed Folio?) and with laptops getting thinner,lighter, more powerful, the question becomes what will the tablet do? What will be the show-stopping feature/use that makes millions of people wonder how they ever lived without this device? Well, we don't know. The computer industry has matured so much in the last five years, thanks in large part to Apple, but also to netbook developers, that it isn't clear beyond design and dozens of niche-specific uses, just what will be the missing piece of the puzzle that will be filled by a tablet?

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.