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Apple Tried To Change Comsumer Habits

As Apple Inc. prepares to unveil its own sequel Wednesday, the biggest question is whether changes since the early 1990s in the technology landscape¡ªand consumer habits¡ªcould give this tablet story a happier ending for vgp bps2b battery. Early tablet forays lacked high-speed wireless networking and Internet-based content, which Apple can tap for its device.

There are still plenty of obstacles, veteran tech watchers say, including questions about cost and battery life as well as competition from laptops and smaller devices such as Apple's own iPods and Amazon of .com Inc.'s Kindle reader.But few people underestimate the ability of Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs to turn out a product that will get people talking, and at least some of them buying.

"I would expect to see something that is very exciting, but like the first iPhone, not for everybody," said Mitchell Kapor, an investor and PC industry pioneer who designed the hit spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3.People familiar with the company's plans say Apple will unveil Wednesday a device that has a 10-inch touch screen for which can be manipulated by multiple gestures akin to those popularized by the iPhone.

The larger display provide more space for software of the sort now found on the iPhone¡ªincluding games, navigation and social networking services¡ªwhile allowing users to access traditional media like books, newspapers, movies and TV in new ways of these people say.Based on component costs, analysts say Apple's tablet could be priced as high as $1,000¡ªthough some estimates put it as low as $600, between its most expensive iPod touch and the cheapest Macbook computer.

The underlying concepts behind such products can be traced to the Dynabook, a design for a portable device proposed in the late 1960s by computer scientist Alan Kay. Companies started working on comparable products by the late 1980s, hoping to substitute pen-type devices for keyboards to input data for.But many high-profile start-ups were hurt by defects in underlying technologies, particularly in handwriting recognition and displays. Momenta Corp., for example, launched a six-pound, pen-based computer in 1991 that cost $5,000; the company folded less than a year later.

When Apple first tried to crack the market in the 1990s with a small device called Newton; its handwriting recognition was bad enough to prompt parodies in the "Doonesbury" comic strip for . A few years after Mr. Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, he shut the product down.Microsoft Corp., meanwhile, turned out versions of Windows that could be manipulated with a pen and were used in tablet-style products. But few have found many users beyond businesses with workers that need to be standing, like insurance adjusters and some sales representatives.

Industry executives say the market has changed dramatically, as have technology companies' goals. In the early 1990s, companies were trying to turn existing laptops into pen-based productivity tools  says Jerry Kaplan, Go's former chairman and co-founder. Apple, by contrast, is really making a larger version of its iPhone¡ªa device that is already a consumer hit.

Hardware technology has advanced dramatically in the past decade, making it easier to offer devices that are smaller, more powerful and less expensive of Modern touch-screens are more responsive and don't require electronic pens.The broad acceptance over the past decade of Wi-Fi networking in homes and public places and the rollout of 3G cellular networks in the past two years has made it possible for consumers to get accustomed to using their laptops and cellphones for viewing music, movies and other entertainment.

"I believe the time has come," says Kamran Elahian, the entreprenuer and venture capitalist who founded Momenta, of Apple's expected tablet.But Apple is entering a market that is more complex and crowded of . The rivals include lightweight netbook computers that can sell for less than $300 as well as specialized devices like Amazon's Kindle.

Other computer makers are pushing competing efforts on PA3399U-2BRS. Lenovo Group Ltd., for example, recently unveiled its IdeaPad UI, a hybrid notebook with a detachable screen that works as a stand-alone tablet.A keyboardless computer that is too big to fit in your pocket? Silicon Valley has seen that movie before, and it flopped each time.

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