Tablet computers have been made for over a decade in one form or another in the PC industry, usually relegated to vertical, form-heavy applications. I’ve seen them used in hospitals and car dealer service centers. They are only mildly interesting since Windows has not been changed much to accommodate the required pen input device. These tablet PC’s are also quite expensive which makes them a niche item with consumers.

By all accounts, the Apple tablet (rumored to be called the iSlate) will be a full-on consumer device. A fusion of iPhone, ebook reader, personal video player and MacBook. It will run on some sort of tweaked iPhone OS ensuring it will have tens of thousands of apps on launch later this spring. Connectivity will be provided by standard wifi and optional 3G from multiple carriers. Content subscriptions will be available via iTunes for movies, TV shows, newspapers, magazines, ebooks and, of course, music. The iSlate will change the computing paradigm forever just like the iPhone, Mac and Apple // did.

The only problem is all of this is rumor and speculation. Mr. Jobs has a history of canceling announcements at the last minute due to leaks. And I expect there will be a slew of other announcments today. Things like the 4th gen iPhone (probably available on all U.S. carriers), rethought Apple TV, updated iWork and iLife, speed-bumped MacBook Pros. These alone would count as “new creations” and cover the announced theme of the event.

As I write this post, the top half of Techmeme is all about this mythical Apple tablet. Clearly the hype machine is preparing us for something big today. If this device is an overgrown iPod Touch or iPhone, many will be disappointed (not me, that’s exactly what I would like to see; $399, please). But if anyone can meet and even exceed pre-launch hype it’s Steve Jobs. I know I’ll be watching at noon for what he’s got in store for us.

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This weekend I got to play with the Barnes & Noble Nook ebook reader at their Mall of America store. The design and feel of the device is superior to Amazon’s Kindle 2 and the Android-based bottom color LCD screen makes browsing and buying books as intuitive as the iPhone. The problem is the user experience for doing anything else which is more confusing than what’s on the Kindle right now which itself is not great. By the time I got my hands on the new Sony ebook reader at Best Buy I was convinced that the problem is not the idea of ebook readers but the E Ink technology they are based upon that emulates a paper book.

The book form factor has had a nice run over the past 1,500 years with the last major technology boost in 1450 with the invention of the printing press (or 1230 if you are from China). Since then it’s been continuously improved but has remained about the same from a user experience perspective for hundreds of years. Why digital books have to emulate the established print model doesn’t make sense to me when a color LCD reader can include video and other interactive features that would change the medium as much as the printing press did. In the future, books might look more like podcasts than printed words on a white background.

So I think the book needs to be changed in order to thrive in the digital era. All the existing E Ink readers of today will look very dated in just a few years when interactive digital book readers arrive. Or it could come a lot sooner if Apple decides to launch a 6-inch iPod Touch.

Posted via email from Marketing Technopologist

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And it took Steve Jobs to give it a proper send-off:

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple announces final MacWorld, Steve Jobs won’t deliver keynote – Engadget

Apple gets conversational marketing and is abandoning traditional outreach in favor of high-touch venues like their retail stores. I also expect to see them cut back on print advertising this year and focus on their important constituencies: mainstream consumers, media professionals and developers with online and broadcast channels.

I’m going to miss the Stevenote at MacWorld, but we’ll still be hearing from him in other venues next year, I expect.

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The only problem is it’s probably a hoax.

That’s because Steve Jobs is not done with his speech yet; I bet he has yet to even fire up Keynote on his super tricked out Macbook Pro.

As I understand his keynote writing process, based upon what I’ve read and back-channel accounts, all of the Apple product managers have sent their white boards to Steve’s Macworld war room. These white boards contain all of the products ready or nearly ready to ship with detailed specs, key features and positioning. Steve will then pick and choose the order of announcement and then put together his slides. No one but Steve is sure what will be announced until it is; it’s just his way.

Sure, there are big product announcements that have been planned for months, such as the previously announced iPhone SDK and redesigned Macbook, that hundreds of Apple people know about but the “one last thing” is still something Steve reserves for something really special. And no way is it YouTube videos in iTunes… my money is still on the hybrid iMac/Macbook I blogged about last week.

But we will know for sure in about 24 hours.

But I could be wrong as Apple has just announced new Intel Penryn-based Mac Pro’s and Xserve’s so what else might they have up their sleeve ready for announcement next week?

Let’s keep with the Mac theme for a moment and run down the obvious suspects. They will more than likely bump the processors and other features of the current Macbook Pro line-up; ditto for iMacs. The Macbook line will also probably see more of a recognizable change than just internal components but I don’t think it will turn into a flash-based, ultra-portable or tablet that some have speculated. No, I think it will be something radical: a return to the past.

Back in the mid-1990′s, I had a Powerbook Duo. What I liked about the setup was a regular monitor, keyboard and external hard drives housed in a docking station that the Powerbook fit into like a huge floppy disk. When on the road, it was a small, ultra-portable with a tiny monochrome display but it got the job done; I loved it.

What I think will be the biggest story next week is a return to this form factor but with the portable based upon 32 and/or 64GB of flash memory. It seems the folks at Gizmodo have dug up some interesting news along these lines earlier today.

The only other thing I think might be announced is the discontinuation of Apple TV and it’s replacement by a $399 Mac mini with DVR functionality. The rumored iTunes movie rental store would make more sense and another hobby for Steve and Company would be retired.

Well see for sure in 5 days. Stay tuned.