I love how some people are mocking the Apple tablet buildup, point out that Microsoft has had tablets out for years.

Yes, and there were mp3 players before the iPod, but which one is considering the ultimate version of the technology that caused it to take root?

And there were smartphones before the iPhone too. But which one is the one that finally get things right (mostly.)

I owned one of the original tablets, the Apple Newton. I loved that thing back in college. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he killed off the Newton project, mostly because it wasn't his baby. Newton had been spun off into a subsidiary company and was starting to flourish. The project wasn't making money, but it was breaking even.

Newton OS 1.0 was a joke, the handwriting technology was lampooned and with good reason. It was lousy. The product was released before it was ready. Newton OS 2.0 was no joke. The handwriting technology actually worked.

In college, I used to carry around a Newton 120 running Quicken and I would log all of my purchases into it. I would use it for taking notes in class.

On last week's MacBreak, Leo Laporte made a great point about the Newton. The technology in it was fantastic. It was way ahead of its time. They're still impressive machines to this day. But it was the perfect product to highlight the difference between an Apple with and without Steve Jobs. Apple with Jobs has a track record of finding that nexus of form and function that is so crucial.

There have been Apple tablet rumors since 2002. The iPhone actually originated as a "Safari Pad" idea:

"Apple's multitouch technology began life not as a cellphone, but as a notepad-sized skunkworks project internally dubbed Safari Pad, run by Tim Bucher, then Apple’s head of Macintosh hardware. To his credit, Mr. Jobs seized on the technology and morphed it into the iPhone."
New York Times, June 2007

Apple clearly had the technology to release such a product. Most companies in the tech industry would have already done so. This thing has been in development for years and years now. If it comes out and it does indeed look like a big iPhone, that's not necessarily a cop-out design-wise. The hype machine has been in overdrive for a long time now on this thing, so I think that the first reaction might be disappointment from the tech blogs. If they had come out with this thing with the exact same interface as the iPhone 2 years ago as the iPhone was introduced, people would be drooling. Funny how quickly what was revolutionary seems passé.

Apple stock tends to drop a little when they introduce a new product. I'm betting it drops a bit today.

I was there in San Francisco when they introduced the iPhone. A Steve Jobs keynote is a pilgrimage all Apple geeks should make. I hate that they don't do them at Macworld anymore, where the fans can attend. It was indeed a landmark day... what will today bring?

I'm predicting:

10" screen (LCD, not OLED)
Wifi
3G support (hope this doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I already have a data plan, let me tether iPhone to it for $5 a month)
iPhone OS 4.0 with new gestures
Pressure sensitive screen for sketching
No stylus, but it will support handwriting via 2 fingers gripped like a pen
Won't be named iPad or iSlate. I like Canvas.
Will support scaled iPhone apps, but will have apps that are built just for it
Front facing camera, but no rear one - do you really want to carry this to shoot snapshots?
Apple sets Bing as default search on iPhone 4.0 over Google
Google Maps replaced with Apple's own mapping app with Turn by Turn GPS
Cost? $800, which is too much, but it will drop