Microsoft Surface, Meet Apple iSurface 201
theodp writes "Responding to Microsoft's Windows 8 efforts, Apple CEO Tim Cook insisted in late April that combining a tablet and a notebook would be like converging a toaster and a refrigerator. But a patent application submitted by Apple last year — and made public Tuesday morning — proposes marrying a tablet and a keyboard to create 'a true laptop alternative,' which GeekWire notes looks a lot like Microsoft Surface (comparison pic). In its patent filing, Apple describes various ways that a tablet's cover could be used as an I-O device — as a tactile-feedback keyboard ('word processing and email become much more efficient'), to display additional output, as a touchpad replacement, and even to receive stylus input. 'The experience,' claims Apple, 'is even better in some ways than the laptop experience.'"
Re:Copy Sony again? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Copy Sony again? (Score:5, Informative)
Or the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard cover [logitech.com], or...
The idea of adding a keyboard to a tablet is hardly Microsoft's invention; Apple released a keyboard dock alongside the first iPad, to say nothing of the old convertible tablet PCs. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Apple copying Microsoft? BS. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... (Score:4, Informative)
Dislike them all you wish, but Sony's VAIO Z has a 1080p screen on a 13.1" body. There's also Samsung's Series 9 ultrabook, 900p in a 13.3" frame.
And then if you want bigger, there's plenty of choice from companies like Sager that offer 1080p on a 15.6" frame.
Re:Copy Sony again? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... (Score:5, Informative)
Not sure if MS filed a patent for theirs, and if they did, when.... But apple's isn't a direct response to it.
The surface was supposed to be so ultra top secret that a lot of ms execs didn't know about it until the unveiling (... http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/21/microsoft-surface-apple-like-secrecy/ [bgr.com]) so it's unlikely that apples patent FILED LAST YEAR but only made public on 8/2 is a "copy"
FTA: A patent application submitted by Apple last year — and made public just this morning — describes a flexible, magnetically attached cover for a tablet device. It’s similar to Apple’s existing smart cover for the iPad, except that this cover can also function as an input and display device. And one of the concepts described by Apple in the patent filing is an idea for using the cover as a keyboard.
And if you look at the patent, apples is a display, and writing surface, plus keyboard, whereas the surface is just a keyboard.
See what happens when you read?