Three months ago I was convinced that Apple’s next big splash would be diving into the deep end of the Netbook product pool. I have enjoyed the portability and productivity of my light-weight Samsung as much as one can enjoy a Windows computer, but I long for a non-hacky way to have 3-pound OSX machine in my backpack. Perhaps my passion has clouded my prognostication abilities.
Personally, the tablet has never appealed to me for lack of keyboard. But if this recent multi-touch patent is related to the multi-rumored tablet, I could probably be swayed.
The mountain of rumor and evidence for an Apple tablet device cannot be ignored, and no techno-pundit concerned with their reputation questions its eventuality. With a lineage that goes back to Newton (the device, not the physicist), an Apple tablet has reportedly been in and out of development for 20 years.
The top-secret tablet briefly reappeared in the public spotlight in May of 2004 when Steve Jobs offhandedly mentioned that he was proud of the products that Apple had released, as well as the ones they decided not to ship. Asked to elaborate on the latter category, Jobs succinctly replied “an Apple PDA.”
About two and a half year later, Steve jobs began the iPhone product announcement at Macworld 2007 with the words “This is a day I have been looking forward to for two and a half years.”
Did the Newton of the 90′s beget the terminated pocket tablet of 2004? Did Steve’s pride and joy of 2004 become 20 million sold iPhones within half a decade? Or has it always been about the tablet? Perhaps we will find out in November, or Early 2010, or February 2010, or maybe it was released last month and we all missed it.