So! According to the latest semi-reliable leaks out of Cupertino, Apple's latest worst-kept secret, the
iTablet iSlab Touch iTouchtabowabo Apple Tablet (
name pending), is due for a
major announcement by the end of the month.
As a new owner of an iPod Touch whose ownership thereof can be described less as "proud" and more as "that sound is inevitability, Mr. Anderson"*, I feel safe in saying that I
understand the allure if I don't necessarily
leap headlong into it**. They're pretty, they're (
legally, if not technically) proprietary, they're expensive. I get it.
But a tablet? While every other Apple product falls into a category that I can at least appreciate on the conceptual level, a tablet is something that I don't even care for in theory. Everything that a tablet can be made to do can either be done smaller (on an iPhone/iTouch-level platform, with portability, convenience, and convergence thrown in as bonuses) or larger (on a Macbook-level platform, with more power and versatility than a tablet could utilize without some sort of Miracle Drive add-on).
This is not an opinion which I hold exclusively in regard to Apple products. Tablets to me are a technology with one foot out the gate and the other in the grave.
To be a viable product, a tablet must be big enough to handle manual read/write operations on a full-size touchscreen yet small enough to be "ultraportable" yet sturdy enough not to break in a steady wind yet light enough not to give the user arm cramps during use, while at the same time being cheap enough to mass-produce yet advanced enough to handle heavy multitasking over long periods in the field yet simple enough for the layman in that same field to use (and troubleshoot) yet complex enough to be able to handle a potentially mind-numbing assortment of load-outs...okay, I'm getting a headache.
Get the picture? Unlike other fields in which Apple products have flourished, tablet computing has not yet even begun to be sorted out. A proper tablet is a logistical nightmare. Apple's penchant for gift-wrapping a formula made of elements which already exist may or may not work too well here.
Unless they're just going to straight-up Kindle it, which is unlikely given the rumored $1000 price tag.
----
*
Which isn't to say that I don't like it, in case its purchaser is reading this.**
The fact that I recognized Apple's stylistic contributions back when the rest of you fairweather end-users wouldn't have gone near one of their products notwithstanding.
