In our view Apple’s history of re-inventing it’s most successful devices (think back to all the iPhone rumours that were circulating before it launched) leads us to believe that this device may be much more than early reports have suggested.

First of all what exactly do we know about the new Apple tablet?  It depends on the source you read but the most commonly accepted description is consistent with a report that appeared on Gizmodo.com in August this year:

“The device…..is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time…..with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button….it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use.”

Is that all?

In our opinion the key market that Apple will be seeking to gain dominance of will be the electronic book reader (ebook).

Apple already has a strong market position with digital music and video through iTunes and in mini applications (apps) through the App Store.

A new device like the tablet will be expected to leverage those existing strengths but importantly may also provide Apple with an entre into the digital reader market which is currently dominated by Amazon’s Kindle.  With a large colour screen and wireless access the device appears to be ready-made for an assualt on one of the fastest growing market segments.

And why wouldn’t Apple have its eyes on this prize?

Have a look at some of the numbers. At least one analyst of Amazon’s business (Sandeep Aggarwal of Collins Stewart) has forecast US$2 billion of revenue for the Kindle by 2012. This is revenue not solely derived from hardware sales but from the eco-system that surrounds it.  Apple makes enviable profits from those $0.99 downloads on iTunes.  The margins in ebooks should be at least as good.

In its first full year of sales back in 2002, Apple sold just under 400,000 iPods. Two years later that number was approachng 4.5million.

By comparison in its first year of sales Amazon has sold over 500,000 units.

Apple is a savvy operator and arguably the best in the business at developing products that change the way we live, work and play.  The Apple tablet will just not be a bigger iPhone or iPod Touch: it’s going to change the way we buy books.

According to close sources, Apple is developing an FM tuner app for iPhone and iPod touch users.

It is believed the app is mostly done at this point, and will likely take cues from the FM tuner interface of the recently introduced fifth-generation iPod nano.

The iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and second-gen iPod touch all use a Broadcom radio chip that combines low-power WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM capabilities.

The newest iPod touch uses the newer chip which also has FM receiving.

The original iPhone and iPod touch used chips from Marvell for WiFi, and the iPhone had a separate chip for Bluetooth, so those devices wouldn’t work with an FM tuner app.

While FM tuners have been features of a wide variety of other media players, they have never featured significantly in the Apple line-up. A separate FM tuner accessory Apple introduced in 2006 never sold in significant numbers and was quietly discontinued.

However, Broadcom’s Chris Bergey said late last year that FM tuning is particularly popular in other areas of the world, such as India; there phones with FM outnumber those with Bluetooth, for instance.

Since the hardware already has the capability, and the software design is most of the way there with work done on the iPod Nano, it would be relatively trivial for Apple to offer up an FM tuner app for the iPhone OS platform.

Integrating iTunes purchasing would also be the sort of compelling value add that should give Apple a good reason to make it happen.

MMS messaging is coming…

It was announced a few weeks back and it was yet again confirmed this week that MMS for iPhone will be available today, September 25 2009.

Late morning, Pacific Time, on Friday, the new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready to download through iTunes.

This will come in the form of a carrier update that you will have to download via iTunes.

But while the news is great, don’t expect to see MMS working on your iPhone as soon as you read this.

The AT&T will be systematically activating groups throughout the day, starting at 10 AM Eastern time. Also don’t forget that to enable MMS on your iPhone you must first connect to iTunes and download and install an updated carrier file.

That is, if AT&T’s network holds up. It is predicted that millions of iPhone users will rush to test the new service today, causing a jam in the network or even a complete crash.

The possibility of this outcome has left AT&T feeling fairly nervous, and according to the Macrumours website:

“Early testing has been a little rocky, with AT&T seeing a fairly significant test outage yesterday that has them rushing to beef up their MMSC messaging servers. Estimates among those working on the project are that traffic on AT&T’s wireless network will be about 40% higher all day on Friday as iPhone users fire pictures and video at one another.”

Let’s just hope the jam doesn’t affect things too severely so we can all finally enjoy the MMS feature on our iPhones.

To create a conference call, tap the “Add Call” icon while making a call.  This will put the first call on hold for the time being.

Once you have been connected on your second call, tap the “Merge Calls” icon.

The calls will now be merged onto one line and everyone will be able to hear each other.

This process can be repeated up to five times depending on your provider and carrier.

To drop a call, tap “Conference” and tap the “End Call” icon, then tap “End Call” again.

To talk privately with a call tap “Conference”, then tap “Private” next to the call you wish to select. Tap “Merge Calls” to resume to conference.

To add an incoming call tap “Hold Call” and “Answer”, then tap Merge Calls.

The Conference Call feature is great for travelers, business calls and any situation where you need to address more than one person at a time. It’s easy to use and one of the many great features of the new iPhone.

Size and weight

Height: 115 mm (4.5 inches)
Width: 61 mm (2.4 inches)
Depth: 11.6 mm (0.46 inch)
Weight: 135 grams (4.8 ounces)

Features

Capacity: 4GB or 8GB flash drive
Display: 3.5-inch (diagonal) wide screen multi-touch display, 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 160 dpi
Operating system: OS X
GSM: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
2.0 mega pixels Camera
Support for multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Audio

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Loss less, AIFF, and WAV
Headphones: Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, +EDR

Power and battery

Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
Talk time: Up to 8 hours
Standby time: Up to 250 hours
Internet use: Up to 6 hours
Video playback: Up to 7 hours
Audio playback: Up to 24 hours

Video formats

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second
• Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps
• 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second
• Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second
• Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz

Impedance: 32 ohms

In the box

• Handset
• Stereo Headset
• Dock, Connector to USB Cable
• USB Power Adapter
• Documentation
• Cleaning/polishing cloth

The touch screen QWERTY keypad, wireless connectivity and FM radio are all going to be staples of future models and those who have now experienced the iPhone will never be able to go back.

Apart from talking, texting and keeping a contact list, features of the Apple iPhone include:

Connectivity options: GPRS, EDGE, WLAN, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11 b/g WiFi and USB
Entertainment: 2.0 mega pixels camera, iTunes player, FM radio
Guts: iPhone operating system, flash storage memory of either 8GB or 16GB, 12 mB memory
Touchscreen: 3.5 inches, 16 million colour support and 480 x 320 pixel resolution
Battery: 250 hours standby, 8 hours talk