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已有 76 次阅读2012-2-27 15:47

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PC World mdash; Weve been hearing about Apples (AAPL) alleged plans for touchscreen-equipped iMacs for months now, and the rumors continue to swirl. The latest gossip arrives courtesy Digitimes, a Taiwanese trade publication thats a bountiful source of Apple-related scuttlebutt. So what's new? Display manufacturer Sintek Photonics has reportedly shipped samples of capacitive touch panels to Apple, which plans to incorporate the technology into the next generation of its iMac all-in-one desktops, Digitimes reports. Microsoft Technology Centers Use Touch to Teach10 Hot Touchscreen Phones Compared The story seems credible, particularly as it follows a series of recent reports that suggest a touchscreen-enabled iMac is in the works. In August, for instance, Apple-centric blog Patently Apple did some sleuthing and uncovered a January 2010 patent that shows an iMac-like display that flips from vertical to horizontal orientation. A reclining iMac would be a clever (and essential) component of a touchscreen desktop UI, which presumably would adopt much of the functionality of Apples touch-based mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Without an optional horizontal orientation, touch input on an iMac could prove an ergonomic disaster, one resulting in the dreaded gorilla arm effect that afflicted users of early touch-input hardware in the 1980s. According to Wikipedia, designers of these touch-menu systems "failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than a very few selections,north face vinterjakke, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversizedthe operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. Todays iMacs come in 21.5- and 27-inch models, and the technology required to build 20-inch or larger capacitive touchscreens is complex. Projected capacitive touch panels are typically produced by placing touch sensors over the panel,nike air force 1, and then a cover glass over the sensors. The conventional method is not only costly and complex, but (also) affects display brightness, Digitimes reports. The touch-enabled iMac will reportedly have good vertical and horizontal viewing angles, and its one-glass touch panel will integrate the sensor and cover glass for a slimmer, lighter design. An unresolved question is whether the alleged touch iMac will run Apple's desktop OS X and its mobile iOS. One scenario: OS X operates in vertical mode, while iOS takes over in horizontal. The dual-OS design sounds tricky, however, and one must wonder if Apple can implement it while maintaining the top-notch user experience its famous for. Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .
Computerworld mdash; Microsoft's introduction of Windows 7 later this month won't cost Apple any Mac sales, a Wall Street analyst said today. Slideshow: Windows 7 in Pictures: 10 Cool Desktop FeaturesWindows 7 Bible: Your Complete Guide to the Next Version of Windows "I analyzed the impact of the last four Windows launches and found no negative correlation between them and Mac sales," said Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech. "In fact, [Microsoft's launches] almost act like a delayed accelerant on Mac sales." After comparing Mac sales with the launches of Windows 98 in June 1998,beats pro, Windows 2000 (February 2000), Windows XP (October 2001) and Vista (January 2007), Marshall found that in all but the case of Windows 2000, Mac sales either increased or stayed steady. Mac sales jumped the most after Vista's introduction, according to Marshall's analysis, which many experts attributed to some Windows users' switching to Macs after they were disappointed by Vista's poor performance or put off by its lackluster reviews. Marshall attributed Apple's ability to prevail in the face of new competition to the company's small slice of the total computer market share. "Apple's such a small chunk of the marketplace," he said, "that it's not dependent on others in the industry. As they get bigger over time, that will change, however." He pegged the turning point as 10 of the personal computer market, a fraction that he said Apple could obtain within the next five years, assuming current growth trends. "So the next version of Windows may be a risk to Apple, but Windows 7 is not going to have an impact." Microsoft is set to publicly launch Windows 7 in retail -- both as boxed copies of the operating system as well as on new PCs -- in 10 days. Marshall also predicted a return by Apple to historical growth during the last calendar quarter of 2009, another indication that the company weathered the recession better than most computer makers. His estimate for Mac sales in the October-December timeframe of just over 3 million machines would mean a year-to-year sales increase of more than 20. "Apple is getting back to normalized historical growth," Marshall said about his estimate. "The price cuts are having an impact,nike air force, especially on the 1,199 MacBook Pro." Further price cuts, perhaps in a revitalized MacBook line , would also help drive sales in the last months of 2009,www.sacguess.net, Marshall agreed. Apple will announce sales figures for the calendar quarter that ended Sept. 30 next Monday during a conference call with reporters and analysts.Marshall expects that Apple will then claim it sold approximately 2.8 million Macs in the July-September quarter, which would represent a 7 increase over the same period last year.