i have to agree that TI has cornered the market, and
they are making ridiculous money (since the technology hasn't really changed in 10 years) ...
still, i was thinking that apple could envision a "sexy" calculator (with mad connectivity, graphing skills and support software ala numbers lite, etc.) that teachers/professors might drool over.
sure the current market is grounded in yesteryear tech (black/white lo-res screens, serial cable, wi-fi connectors as large as small pets, etc.). it just seemed to me that this situation was ripe for an apple takeover/makeover ...
i can see the ads: Hi, I'm iTouch '08 ... and Hi I'm TI 8-old ...
middle school kids would flip over this toy (capable of locally instant messaging).
if it got banned and labelled as dangerous, the hype would go through the stratosphere.
high school kids/college kids would love a drool-worthy calculator (in comparison to the TI).
teachers would find it compelling (since the TI-interface is dino DOS)
and could easily rework their lessons and libraries for a "sexy","hot" number.
online support/hosting would be second-to-none ...
actually the screen could be 4 times larger, but apple can do that two months after they launch the initial models ...
(hee hee hee)
is this really hopeless or can it possibly happen ??? ...
would the margins be too low or could this have synergy with the iPod/iPhone phenomena ???