iPhones are 10 times more expensive than other cellphones out there, but they're still selling like hot cakes wouldn't you say?
It's about the perceived value. I literally want a bigger version of my iPhone so I can do work on the fly. $700-900 is a steep price, but I am really considering it.
iphones are not 10x more expensive than any other competitor. compared to the pre, g1, blackberry storm, HTC touch series, sony experia, the iphone is actually the cheaper alternative.
Indeed, I never did understand the complaints about the iPhone's price. Sure, it was a lot more expensive than your average run-of-the-mill consumer phone, but it was in the same price range as comparable smartphones from Nokia, HTC, SonyEricsson, Blackberry and now Palm.
When calling any product cheap or expensive, the question should always be: Compared to what?
Why a bigger iPhone and not a smaller macbook? Unless your job is almost 100% read-bound (or sketching, I guess) I can't see this being a good replacement for "doing work"...
The majority of the market this is targeting doesn't "do work" on computers, they consume media.
I remember after first getting my iPhone 2g, and playing with it for a day straight, when I went back to my laptop I wanted to manipulate the UI by touching the screen. When I say "wanted" I mean I uncousciously reached for the screen on a couple of occasions. I got over that quickly, but it made me consider what this form factor would be good for and whether it would sell.
I agree that this machine won't replace the laptop as a work machine. I do think that it may be a better solution, from a UI standpoint, than the current netbooks on the market. Have you seen people at coffee shops typing on those things? I know it will be better than a netbook in bed or while laying on a couch, which is were I find myself using my iPhone and not my laptop.
Also, $700 isn't that much when you consider that the Kindle is $300 and used to be $500. Think how much more you will be able to do on an iTablet, or whatever you want to call it.
I don't think this theorized tablet is for coding your giant Ruby on Rails site with a massive Textmate project list on a memory consuming Safari debugging session. (Actually I don't even think the Macbook Air with non-upgradable 2GB fits for that either.) If you're doing "real work", which usually means Photoshop, all kinds of coding, and other heavy duty activities, this probably isn't for you. The sheer thought of anybody doing those things on a tiny, slow netbook with a 9" screen is just insane to me.
The tablet is probably meant for surfing websites, sending emails (take a pick between built-in MobileMail, GMail app, or GMail through Safari), SaaS website apps, and most likely some games.
Think Crunchpad competitor, not netbook or full sized laptop competitor.
