iBook Converts to iTablet

Samuel Cotterall writes to tell us The Register is reporting that, not content to wait for Apple's mythical tablet PC to ship, ThePlaceforitAll.com is selling converted iBooks on eBay to fill the void. From the article: "ThePlaceforitAll.com is the first to admit the hardware will not be supported by Apple, thanks to the warranty-warping modification work, but the software should still be covered. More worrying is the site's statement that it "will not fix any broken iTablets". It will also ship to US-located buyers only."

Good for them

[flicken]

What the market demands, the market gets, regardless of whether the original manufacturer listens or not. If this sells well, maybe Apple will hasten to complete their own tablet PC.

Re:Why would you buy one of these?

[Wabin]

Not to mention that the $1500 is just the starting price...

It should also be noted that there are no pictures yet, only renderings. Personally, I would want to be sure the thing existed before dropping $1.5K on it.

That or wait for apple to get its act together and release an official version. Clearly there are people who want them.

Problems with the iTab

[Jazzer_Techie]

The lack of Inkwell support is an issue, but I more importantly question the screen. As far as I know, there's no way to switch between Portrait and Landscape mode. TFA certainly doesn't mention this capablity, and after playing around with my PowerBook for a few minutes, OSX doesn't seem to naitively support that kind of orientation change. That's a big issue as it removes one of the cornerstones of Tablet fuctionality.

Re:Why would you buy one of these?

[JPriest]

Let me go out on a limb and say becasue the Macbook is also not a tablet PC? How come every time someone comes out with a nich product people from slashdot have to pipe in and say "I have no need for this, why do they even sell it?". If they are selling them then obviously _someone_ wants one.

This sort of sounds like the Outbound laptop.....

[8127972]

..... where it had everything except ROM chips (which the user had to supply from a desktop Mac) so that they didn't get sued out of existance by Apple(http://www.lowendmac.com/clones/outbound.htm l [lowendmac.com] for more). Oddly enough, what put them out of business was the release of the first Mac Portable.

This time around they are taking iBooks and (allegedly) converting them into tablets. That is sure to get the attention of the horde of Apple lawyers who will surely sue them out of existance.

Re:Why would you buy one of these?

[rolfwind]

People might buy it just for the coolness factor (like some do with Mac products in general).

But I agree, as long as it's mostly a hardware mod with minimal software integration, this is a half-assed solution.

Personally, I'm waiting for Apple come back into the PDA arena - one that could fit in the PCMIA slot of their notebooks for automatic syncing (or cooler still, a very thin one that would lock in to the top - behind the screen of their notebooks, perhaps in the center being a replacement light-up apple symbol like on the powerbook - letting you access notebook data without turning on the notebook completely).

Re:Why would you buy one of these?

[Bassman59]

"If they are selling them then obviously _someone_ wants one."

they're offered for sale, but there are no bidders ...