iNote: The Apple PDA
Sources tell us that Apple will be releasing, in the coming months, a sort of PDA. It will be entitled iNote.
iNote will run a modified version of OS X called XNote. Many of the current Mac apps will be available (iCal, Mail, Preview, Safari, iPhoto, iTunes, and QuickTime to name a few) but will be modified versions for use on the small screen space. According to the images we obtained, it looks as though there may even be a modified iDVD (think super portable video editing).
Internet connectivity will be available via WiFi and Bluetooth.
One very nice feature (we think atleast), is a new application called SmoothClick which provides remote control functionality for use with various programs such as Keynote and iTunes.
Hardware features:
20 or 40GB Hard drive
256MB of RAM
1.4GHz CPU (we believe it to be a modified G4)
Bluetooth
Airport Extreme
Firewire
USB 2
iNote is currently scheduled for a late fall release and will have a base price of around $350.
We received the following images from our source.
Note: Click on the thumbnails for a full size image:
David Appleyard on April 1st, 2005 at 6:31 am
Wow – That looks amazing
Seriously though, we’re not fooled that easily :)
Peter Koritschan on April 1st, 2005 at 6:57 am
I agree with David…. :)
And: how realistic would a PDA be with a regular OS X desktop? They would have to create a more PDA friendly desktop with bigger icons…
Danny on April 1st, 2005 at 8:54 am
Plus, the font for “iNote” is wrong. It may be Myriad, but it is not strong enough.
lightningrod220 on April 1st, 2005 at 9:15 am
You’ll know if it’s possibly true when Apple sues the blog.
Nollind Whachell on April 1st, 2005 at 9:28 am
Someone ought to make a site that just shows all the cool Apple stuff that people think up (and mock up). Would be cool to imagine the possibilities.
Loof L. on April 1st, 2005 at 10:03 am
It will also be a phone after Apple completes purchase of one of the mobile networks.
diveanddig on April 1st, 2005 at 11:49 am
I think this would be a “foolish product.” We always seem to get reports like this on April first.
Dan Bruno on April 1st, 2005 at 11:50 am
iDon’tbelievethatforasecond.
dennis comeau on April 1st, 2005 at 1:07 pm
what a bunch on iBull****!
David Olson on April 1st, 2005 at 2:25 pm
I am surprised there were not the typical responses to the article (which wrecks the fun), so I will give a few: (1) WOW! I can’t wait, I will buy one as soon as they come out. (2) Better than any Pocket-Windoze junk. (3) Dell is coming out with one twice as fast and has a lot more software and costs half as much, enough of this “Apple-tax.”
Seriously, a good mock up and a clean design. I would love to have a MacTablet or MacHandheld. But I am afraid it would end up sitting next to my old Clie. When I need a computer I tend to need the screen size or keyboard of my PB.
Ryan on April 1st, 2005 at 4:05 pm
This looks a *lot* like another april fools joke from last year. Though, I don’t think it was called the iNote…
Math Campbell on April 1st, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Nice One, Happy April Fools all.
Pity that whoever did it (great cgi) didn’t remember to mock-up a decent desktop screenshot. A) The icons would be bigger and more PDA friendly, but B) More importantly, why would a PDA which only connects to the net via airport and bluetooth have a modem icon on the finder bar. I think the term is “D’Oh” to whoever didn’t healing-brush that one out.
Anonymous Coward on April 1st, 2005 at 5:16 pm
Mildly amusing. I particularly like the spelling of digital (“DIGIATL”). Very high quality work.
Roy on April 2nd, 2005 at 2:41 am
Great photoshop job. I always enjoy seeing cool ideas & photoshop work like this.
But, GarageBand on a PDA? Seriously now….
Piko on April 2nd, 2005 at 9:06 am
I frickin’ HATE April Fools Day technical articles!! With a passion!! It’s such a SERIOUS waste of bandwidth!
Piko
Richard on April 2nd, 2005 at 9:26 am
You know, if it WERE an actual Apple product…I’d pay the $350 for it, in a heartbeat. Just because it’s so damn cool.
But I’d want a modem in it, too, for those emergency moments when you can’t find a WiFi network and need to get on the net.
justin on April 2nd, 2005 at 10:22 am
“B) More importantly, why would a PDA which only connects to the net via airport and bluetooth have a modem icon on the finder bar. I think the term is “D’Oh” to whoever didn’t healing-brush that one out.”
actually………the modem icon would be to connect via bluetooth. the bluetooth icon is for pairing and browsing devices. but to use bluetooth for dialup, one would use “internet connect” with the modem icon.
Dan on April 2nd, 2005 at 11:16 am
lol…with those specs, they would just run the full version of Mac OS X. It would be the fastest PDA on the planet by power of 10.
Does it come with a GeForce 4 too?
Josh Pigford on April 2nd, 2005 at 11:19 am
Actually Dan, it comes with an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200. :P
Tony W on April 4th, 2005 at 1:08 am
Wow… wish this were true!
Jonathan on April 4th, 2005 at 1:11 am
oh ya PPC G4 1.4G with geforce fx 5200
it enough to burn ur hand
Nanmac on April 8th, 2005 at 2:09 am
Pleace with a GSM function this would kick ass
Using an iMate Jam now same size as my iPod photo.
Wow it would be awsome to have to drag only one device!
And processor speed even 600 would be good
Jakey on May 26th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Really tough, Apple MAY take another crack at a handheld…obviously with like an itunes controler on top or something, but if apple hadn’t shved the newton out into the market so quickly they probably could be at the top of the PPDA market.
Euge on June 11th, 2005 at 8:27 am
What a dream it would be. Apple would be the company to produce an elegantly integrated iPDA-iPodPhoto-camera-phone with enough memory and battery life to satisfy; the all-in-one device I’ve been dreaming of.
James on July 30th, 2005 at 11:53 pm
Well until Apple finally realises how useful portable all in one devices are as they make our lives so much easier, so eventually they will dominate the market just like mobile phones did, I will be using windows based mobile phone/pda hybrids just like the Qtek s100 that I got just a few weeks ago and miraculously replaced my ipod photo, my sony erricsson s700 and my old sony digital camera. sometimes I don’t even have to carry my powerbook 17″ around anymore as I can also get my emails and browse at the wifi spots I always used. wow! I didn’t think that the day to have almost everything in just one small portable device (smaller than my quickly forgotten ipod photo) would come so soon. Don’t get me wrong I am no windows fan and I never owned a pc since my first apple IIc but this pocket pc thingy rocks. I can listen to almost all of my itunes music with my three 2gb SD cards which will soon ne replaced by the newly released 4gb sd cards, I can watch videos, browse wirelessly even at home with my airport express, write emails, chat, take pictures, or videos and the possibilities are almost endless with a huge amount of software and hardware out there to expand its capabilities just as with a full sized computer. I think that apple should take note of this new breed of devices and prove that it can lead the way once again. I believe in them and I know that this day will come in the not too distant future
Glyn on August 2nd, 2005 at 8:30 am
James – intrigued as to how you’re able to “browse wirelessly even at home with my airport express” given that the Qtek s100 doesn’t have Wi-Fi?
Lind on August 7th, 2005 at 9:03 am
Considering Qtek S100 is similar to my imate jam the only way to have a wifi connection is through a wifi sd card like the Spectec lan card I’m currently using. The 4GB memory cards are indeed something to be excited about. Hopefully I will be one of the first to buy them!
Dan on August 14th, 2005 at 8:57 pm
It’s a shame apple doesn’t have something equivalent to a pocket pc. If they produced an Apple pda there would be so many mac fans who would switch their pocket pc in an instant and I would definitely be one of them!
Graham on August 30th, 2005 at 11:03 am
Oh My G*d!!!! If this is real…..
Words Cannot Describe the Beauty!!
Garry on September 2nd, 2005 at 3:44 pm
If only.
I really wish Apple would make a PDA. I don’t ever see it happening though ever.
Garric on September 8th, 2005 at 2:35 am
I want it. It better be a phone. And it should be called iDeal. I hate carrying around a phone, my pod, a camera, a video, my laptop, and a PDA all at once. Steve…please do it….please….
Walter Jeffries on September 15th, 2005 at 8:35 pm
I got mine today! Finally, the PDA/Tablet Mac I have been waiting to get for years. Sure, it isn’t powerful enough to replace our iMac G5 20″ or my PowerBook 15.2″ Al but it is a wonderful piece of hardware for reading the news, documents, simple work, browsing, email, videos, tunes and on the road access. The coolest part is it uses FireWire Target Disk mode so you can plug it into your main Mac and it syncs and stays synced so when you unplug it at the end of the day you take home you entire Mac mirrored (up to 80GB). Way cool and only $499 with the educational discount!
Dylan on September 19th, 2005 at 5:45 am
I think that the analysis on this post is good, but is much improved upon by the most recent tablet criticism and speculation by Noah Goldblatt.
jeff on September 22nd, 2005 at 11:36 pm
I believe apple should use a click wheel with a mouse pad in the center with a speed step style processer. Running an optimized version for screen size and touch screen hand writing recognition with widgets and all. wifi and bluetooth for those times you need a mouse and keyboard . A dock so you can use a monitor . Mini vga firewire usb 2.0 a button for ipod use without turning on the processor battery life !!
A minimum 512 ram and a umd drive ala sony psp 1.2 gigs on one of those low power consumption again a must . Two sizes a 20 and a 40 gig flash based ,hard drives take a beating in your pocket and flash uses less power A brightveiw display god my dream machine if apple doesnt make it i will
jeff on September 23rd, 2005 at 10:31 am
due to low flash drive size 32 gig max the dock should have a hard drive to sync with a full osx 10.4
I thought of this after my last entry
Julian (Aus) on October 9th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
I like ur idea. they should make a PDA but have it similar to this rumour but it should have a camera and have the capapbilities of psp and the original ipod. i would buy one for sure mac owns!
Julian (Aus) on October 9th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
Also. they should call it an ipocket.
mark on October 10th, 2005 at 3:15 am
a full featured pda made by Apple is a dream machine
kiady malagasy on November 27th, 2005 at 10:46 am
HI
Nice to hear about inote. I wish that I can have it in China and there will be a chinese version as well as dictionary chin-eng. Thanks
jonathan on November 27th, 2005 at 7:07 pm
Sorry to spoil your enthusiasm Kiady but the iNote doesn’t exist yet. WIsh it did though. All I can say is that we should remain optimistic as there are indications that Apple will get back into the pda market sooner or later and when they do I’m sure that they won’t dissapoint us.
kiady malagasy on November 27th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
Thank you for your answer Jonathan! Just this morning I went to an informatique market in Beijing and I realized that. Anyway so excited for that new PDA product by Apple. What I really need is the option “dictionary”.
JohnDoe on December 9th, 2005 at 8:02 pm
I’m finding it a little bit hard to believe the usb and firewire part, aded to the fact that i consider virtually impossible to cram up so much power in that little piece of thing, that doesn’t even have a way to get rid of the heat that such kind of processor creates
Farewell SUCKERS …
mike on December 9th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Appearances can be quite deceptive, especially when we are preoccupied with them…
cpduke on February 14th, 2006 at 6:01 am
Does anyone find ‘Mike’s’ comment a little wierd? It’s so off the beaten track that it sounds to me like a taster, almost like, ‘You guys need to stop thinking that it will be an adapted iPod’. Knowing Jobbs etc, is he going to reinvent the wheel here? I know the iPod is amazing but design wise it hasn’t moved, just made smaller and thinner with other minor changes. Please Steve, give us what we want, I am still pretending that my Nokia 9300 can do a job for me, but I am fooling myself. ‘Mike’, expand a little on your points, your name is Mike, right?
Lenny on February 27th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I am currently dragging around a palm zire 71(plus SD cards and wireless keyboard), a razr v3, a 2gb thumb drive and a canon powershot s30. The pda and the phone both have cameras, but neither is high enough quality for my general needs. The phone and pda both have a contact list and calendar, but imput for the calendar on the phone is slow and tedious. I am running out of pocket space and having three belt clips looks a tad rediculous. If I could buy a Mac pda with a fast processor hat has lots of storage and is easy to sync with my linux desktop I would consider it. Throw in phone capabilities and a camera somewhere above the 2 megapixel range I would buy it in a heartbeat. Even if it cost $4-500 I would still put up the cash for it considering that my camera cost about $300 when I got it, the pda cost about $140(plus $120 for SD cards and $40 for the keyboard), the thumbdrive was about $100, and the phone was $149 with a three year term for a grand total of $849!!! $4-500 for an integrated device that does a decent job on all of those features would be a steal . An added bonus is that I get empty pockets again. No more big bulges or unsightly belt clips. I borrowed a friend’s Palm Lifedrive to give a try for a couple of days and it just doesn’t stack up. It had wow factor, but 4gb is not that much considering I already had 2gb with SD cards on my Zire. the Wifi was sub-standard(kept losing the connection) and there was no camera or phone capabilities so I still had the bulging pockets. If anyone could do a fully integrated device to meet all of my mobile computing and communication needs, I know that Apple could do it.
It would be super cool if you could use a voip client like skype or google talk in wireless hotspots for the ultimate in free mobile communication! Sweet. How come no one has done this yet? I don’t know, but hopefully the time is near!
Andrew on March 4th, 2006 at 9:36 am
allright this is a lie. even if it did came out it would be a piece of junk.. look at the apple newton that came out a few years back. also the video ipod with the navigation tool to the right of the screen. this is some really good photoshop though..
Josh on March 4th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
sure it’s a lie Andrew.. da!! Rumors have been getting more frequent about the possibility of an apple pda release though. oh and yeah.. i’ve been wondering which planet have you been living in for the last two decades. no offence. but apple has proven way too many times how good they are at making portable devices that simply rock and are not just ‘junk’ and no one, not even the sworn windows freaks who hate the mac philosophy have any doubt on how far ahead apple products can get in terms of design and functionality. I think that as soon as Apple decides to produce that much anticipated pda, most mac users as well as many of the ipod/windows users with a certain budget will want to get their hands on a ‘quality’ apple portable device rather than compromise with a pocket pc that in most cases would come with either a problematic os, mediocre design, bad support, or a combination of all of the above, so in my opinion considering what’s available on the pda market right now, an Apple pda is already a guaranteed success story. I currently use a supposedly high-end, full featured latest Windows pda, loaded with all sorts of apps and functions but I still think it kinda sucks as I have to put up with so many functionality and design flaws. I guess Apple has spoiled me and made me more demanding but is it really so much to ask to have a device that works flawlesly and looks great? Apple has done this many times so there’s nothing that would suggest that Apple won’t be able to make a pda that will go way beyond the mediocracy that makes the current pda market. You are right to say that the apple newton was a fiasko but let’s not forget that it was one of the very few exceptions in apple history when a product didn’t quite make it in the market. Apple has come a long way since then and, oh yes, didn’t they even make that most succesful portable device ever, er, I think it’s called the IPOD?!!!
Andrew on March 22nd, 2006 at 7:40 pm
damn it haha Josh your very right. The apple ipod is sucsessful.
Yil on March 29th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
No mames ojala fuera neta que la sacaran me vale madre me la compro
adam on April 1st, 2006 at 1:53 pm
why would they have all the legal junk and a specific serial number on the back anyway if it wasn’t out yet?
*fake*.
happy april fools everyone.
é1000 on April 3rd, 2006 at 8:37 am
After fooling around with M$ PocketPC, I would surely buy this device from Apple. Can’t wait…
mario on April 3rd, 2006 at 10:39 am
would be great to see an all-in-one device by apple at some point. bought an imate jam and have been using it for about half a year now, hoping to replace the usual three devices that a lot of us carry, a cell phone, a camera and an ipod, but i was so wrong.. the very idea of a compact device is pretty cool but in order to use all of its ‘cool’ features you need a good operating system to support them and this is what all pocket pcs lack in as they present all sorts of inefficiencies and mulfunctions on a regular basis mostly because of their poor software. Not to mention the frequent system crashes that can be such a waste of time when you have to re-install everything from scratch at least every couple of months so that the pocket pc works ok. after paying so much money for that piece of s**t, i just didn’t want to admit that i’ve been wasting my time with it and had been making my life much more complicated than it should be, even for the most simple tasks and spent so much time trying to fix something rather than doing what i got it for. so glad to think that last week i finally took the decision to get rid of it and sell it at a fraction of its original price but i’m still really happy knowing that i’ll put an end to this nightmare called a pocket pc. i have sworn never to get a windows based portable product in my hands ever again, unless it’s a present so that i can sell it on ebay or something.
axel on April 16th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Ahhhh I cant beleave it – someone made this lovely joke ONE YEAR AGO and still nothing happend yet!!! We all want it, we all need it, we all would pay for it – why does nobody realize it??? Is that what marketing strategy is about?
I am really afraid that I have to go to buy a pda phone with (sorry to mention it here!) Windooofs Mobile 5 – uaaaaaaaaaa! The most horrible thing is, that palm lanced its new pda phone (treo 700w) with exactly this software and I had the dream they would be the one who would do the “JOBB” (sniff).
So what the f*** is going on here: Soon you can work with Windooooofs on an apple pc, using a pda pocket with windooofs mobile 5 on it and the last true apple you can buy you will find in a fruit shop? This is all too much for me…
TiGZ.mac on May 12th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
I’ll take it!
wes on August 5th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
I agree with axel. there is no such thing as a pure apple anymore.
tier on August 5th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Apple is dead! Long live Microsoft!
G-cube on November 3rd, 2006 at 8:20 am
U know what guys we should BLAME APPLE cause they keep a secret for most of their products and at the end when i BUY the LifeDrive or some other PDA sys.. they will come out with their own APPLE HandHeld and i wont purchase it. I love Apple but they F****D me over when i both “15″ G4 and 3 months after they came out with the duo drive and all that fast C**P on their Notebooks. That is just not fair at least they should let us know if something is coming out in ADVANCE ???
John on January 27th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
It would be pointless for apple to put out a pda seeing as they already have the iPhone. Plus, if they did market some sort of pda it would not have a stylus.
Paul on March 24th, 2007 at 2:28 am
It`s the best iPhone of all other iPhones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April on April 1st, 2007 at 12:17 am
I love it!
HL on July 17th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I love iPhone but I would not buy it. I don’t want it with the phone. I want a Mac pda which can online(wi-fi), aim, email and read pdf file. anyone want something like that?
james on July 28th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
While the features are attractive, and the design probably the most attractive of all phones, the iPhone lacks in certain areas and will surely have trouble keeping up with the leading phone companies especially in the european market. At this price point the it should have a lot more storage space, should be 3G compatible with a more flexible user interface and 3rd party software support and should have better battery life.
Bill Banche on September 10th, 2007 at 10:14 am
today is 9/10/07, and Apple STILL has not produced what I want:
damit APPLE! I WANT A PDA, NOT THIS STUPID IPHONE!!!
bulls eye on January 4th, 2008 at 8:33 am
mind blooning creation
Kevin on January 15th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
This is IT!! This is the Apple device I’ve been waiting for! What would make it “to die for” would be if it had some expansion capabilities (SD slot) and the possibility of attaching a portable bluetooth keyboard. PLEASE release this for under $500.00!!
Bill Banche on January 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am
It is now 1/16/2008, and yes, this was what I want too. But it does not exist. It’s now one year after the iphone, which is what this promise turned out to be, and there is still NO global search feature. anywhere in the iphone.
I’ve been buying and using Macs since 1984, bought Apple computers since the 1970’s.
But this, lack of a basic global search in iphone, is just beyond belief! from Apple?
Lack of a basic search feature is a deal killer for me. But it gets worse: THERE IS NO WAY TO CUT AND PASTE!!!
This from an Apple product????? BEYOND BELIEF! SHEESH!
Jon on January 16th, 2008 at 9:33 am
wtf is a global search feature?
Jon on January 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
oh yeah and iphone rocks!
Bill Banche on January 16th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
well, to answer the question: a global search feature is where you can search the entire computer or palm device for any string, or word.
this is universal with Mac products.
and also on amy Palm OS PDA.
and, without this basic feature, needed if you have large amounts of data on your computer or PDA, the iphone most certainly does NOT rock.
:)
Bill Banche on January 16th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I mean to say:
on ANY Palm OS PDA…
iphone x-admirer on January 18th, 2008 at 10:57 am
wtf? u cant even copy paste?