Steve Jobs reportedly heading Apple tablet effort

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 23:40

Your IT - Home IT

The Wall Street Journal reports that Steve Jobs is closely directing the development of an Apple tablet computer. Employees have supposedly had some trouble readjusting to the CEO's famous penchant for micromanagement.

Back in April, while Jobs was still on medical leave, the Journal reported that Jobs was nevertheless overseeing Apple's development of a new portable device.

Now that he is coming into the office two or three days a week, today's report says, employees who had grown used to a new level of autonomy "have had to readjust."

The article says that a new "touch-screen gadget" and its marketing strategy have been occupying almost all of Jobs's attention.

Rumors of an Apple tablet being prepared for this year's holiday shopping season have been circulating for months. They were given a boost by last month's reports out of China of Apple's manufacturing orders and by news of an massive deal Apple signed with Toshiba for flash memory.

The Journal article doesn't contain any new details about the product. Apple, as usual, declined to comment, while Jobs himself sent the author an e-mail saying that "much of your information is incorrect."

The story refers to analysts' predictions that any tablet will be priced somewhere between US$400 and $1,000 and that its success will depend in part on its price. Both predictions seem like safe bets, if not utterly obvious.