I am really excited right now, as the Internet has been swirling for a few months now on rumors about a new Tablet computer to be designed, manufactured, and released by Apple.
This is actually nothing new. It’s common knowledge that Apple has been trying to release a Tablet since the early ‘90s. What is special about these rumors today is that there is wide speculation that the Tablet will be a reality really soon; say, in a few days on January 27th in San Francisco.
This is, understandably, epic. The Apple Tablet is supposed to transform the computing world as we know it. When you look at the categories of our computers, you see three main ones: huge, extremely capable workstation desktops, mobile workhorse laptops, and smaller, extremely mobile smartphones for computing on the go.
The Tablet will comfortably fit in between the huge desktops and the mobile laptops, representing a new category of “couch computing.” It’s going to be simply splendid.
The idea itself is nothing new, and a few notable Tablets have been introduced already but are either limited, like the Amazon Kindles that only serve as an eReader, or are marred with bad publicity because of legal implications, like with the TechCrunch CrunchPad device.
What’s obvious, however, is that neither of those extremely capable devices that were launched by well-established technological pioneers even came close to scratching the surface of this space that has yet to be named, released, or discussed, but will inevitably come to be both invented and dominated by Apple.
Numerous bloggers and columnists have talked about supposed tablet specifications. But of course, as fun as predictions are to write and to read, how much value and insight we gain from them is debatable. As capable and talented as my brain might be, I can’t even begin to fathom the world that Steve Jobs sees. And I am hardly the only one. Across the tens of thousands of magazines, newspapers and blogs, enough words have probably been written about this yet unannounced tablet to fill up every rack in Thompson Library.
However, how accurate or meaningful those insights and predictions are is very debatable.
As anticlimactic as this ending might be, the only thing I am 100 percent sure about is that Steve Jobs has something extraordinary in his mind and once he works with his Apple team to unleash this product onto the world, we will be dazzled and shocked.
It will be something astonishing that will completely amaze us beyond our wildest dreams. Why? Because it’s designed by Steve Jobs.
And that’s enough for me, and tens of millions of other people, to run out there and buy this device as soon as it’s made. I can’t wait.