This Wednesday, the greatly anticipated Apple tablet will be unveiled and the true extent of the device will be revealed. Until then, SMU students can only speculate what they might expect or would like for it to include.
Kyle Park, sophomore business student, first heard about the tablet’s unveiling in class and was interested by what he heard of the new device.
“It sounds like a cool product,” Park said. “It would be more useful for day-to-day uses rather than for entertainment because I can find games in my iPhone and laptop already.”
He believes that the tablet will gain the most success if it is beneficial to students for class work or note taking. Park may look forward to what the Apple tablet has to offer in terms of school-related programs, but others believe that the tablet will get more attention from its entertainment potential.
Kaitlyn McDermitt and Julie Kaye, both first year dance students, see the new tablet as excessive and a possible distraction from their studies.
“There are so many other products that a new device would just cause procrastination,” Kaye said.
Some students think that it also adds to the list of products that the public feels it must have, leading to more unnecessary spending.
“It’s expensive to keep buying these products,” McDermitt said. “But it’s Apple so it will probably be really popular, especially for people really into the games.”
Both agreed that while they might not purchase the device themselves, Apple would probably make a good profit just based on its past popularity and success.
Although most students praise Apple and eagerly await each new product, engineering senator Joseph Esau admitted he was not impressed by the reports of the new Apple tablet because he believes it will be too expensive for what the product offers.
“It is basically just a MacBook with a touch screen,” Esau said, “and since it has a touch screen, that will allow Apple to increase the price.”
The fact that it is a touch screen also makes Esau skeptical that it will be a good source for games, because most popular games would be difficult on a touch screen.
“If you want a popular game, then it is better found on PC or XBOX. Most hardcore gamers won’t be impressed with just new applications,” he said.
Esau said that the only way he would find the new tablet useful would be if it supported Windows, but even then, he believes that there are less expensive tablets already available from PC.
However, Esau agreed that the new Apple tablet would be very popular anyway, based on the positive responses to their recent products.
A MacBook with a touch screen might seem very appealing to students, and Esau said that if it includes a type of e-book, it could be even more popular. And as for the pre-existing cheaper tablets, he said, when it comes to Apple, price doesn’t usually matter.
