UPDATED: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 -- 8:25 a.m. -- on my couch

**For even more analysis on the cloud and Apple's big plans, click here.**

No one said that the product that no one can match had to be a product you can actually touch, right?

Think about that for a while. Let that sink in.

No one knows marketing like Apple. No one, anywhere in the world.

Last night, during Apple's financial results quarterly call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer talked a lot about a future product that he couldn't talk about.

That. Right there. That's what makes Apple so darn smart.

Leave it to a company to tease to something that's so incredible and then refuse to ever talk about it again until launch. Now, every single source on the planet -- big and small, print and online, audio and video -- will discuss it until the day it arrives.

Some will speculate correctly. Some will make us laugh.

It doesn't matter. It's all about the buildup. The talk. The attention is what Apple thrives upon. Everyone knows that Steve Jobs could introduce the long-sleeved black turtleneck for $599 and everyone would buy it. If Steve announces it, they will come.

And while Apple always wins because its software is so incredible -- there are MP3 players and video players that do more than the iPod and iPhone, but nothing matches the ease and simplicity of iTunes. In this case, instead of folks saying "It's the software, silly" ... they'll be saying ... "it's the CLOUD, silly."

More on the cloud in a few minutes.

So what could this product be? Oppenheimer said it was new and contained technology that others can't match. I can think of two things right off the bat.

-- Revamped iPod line -- goodbye hard drives, hello solid state flash. Good bye clickwheels (we loved you for what you were) and hello touch. Problem is this isn't new. It's updated and reimagined, but hardly new.

Here's what I think we're embarking on:

--A bigger brother to the iPhone in the form of a touch screen mini tablet/laptop. I talked about this several months ago, so seeing it today as a brand new thought makes me smile.

But here's the key with this one, callers ... the concept isn't new ... tablets aren't new. Steve has said that no one uses a Tablet and that they aren't great. Well, he said that about an Apple-branded phone, so take it with a grain of salt ... but it's not the Tablet that's the big deal ... it's how we use the tablet. If everyone buys an iPhone and then everyone has a tablet as the home version of their iPhone ... well, imagine that for a minute.

I spoke many moons ago about a scenario where you come home, put your iPhone on the table, sit down and voila! Instant update. Instant sync. We've started that ball rolling with the cloud and Mobile Me ... but we're not there yet for podcasts and music. With this type of product, we would be. Automatic sync over the air. For music, apps, -- EVERYTHING -- not just calendars and bookmarks.

Think about it ... you don't think that Mobile Me is just about those little things, do you? Mobile Me is the beginning of a new world of computing. It's the beginning of the end for software on DVDs. It's the beginning of life over the air.

Your iPhone automatically senses the tablet. Both match. Files. Music. Songs. Time Machine technology is built in. Backing up done automatically. You'll have less space on your iPhone, but it's OK because everything else will fit on the tablet. And, here's the key .. what doesn't fit is stored in the cloud. So even when it's not with you, it's with you.

Catch my drift?

$999, perhaps? Oppenheimer hinted at lower pricing. $999? No other laptop in the world could match this.

The mini tablet wouldn't be a laptop as we know it. It would be a giant piece of glass that begs for a whole new line of cases -- a giant piece of glass to hooks up wirelessly to the iPhone in your pocket and allows you to be more productive in the form of a bluetooth keyboard and a slot loading drive (to load apps instead of over the cloud) when products are too big -- like a new version of iWork or Aperture for the iPhone/iTablet.

The mini tablet would also be the nail in the coffin for Amazon's Kindle, which, I still don't get. If this sexy piece of glass contains ebook titles from the app store and is in full amazing color and can wirelessly share the content with the iPhone, well, see ya, Kindle.

I'll speculate on this plenty more in the comments with y'all, but think like Steve for a minute. Different. Creative. Nothing exists like it anywhere. Game changer.

OK, now think about what I wrote about ... see where I'm going?

Your iPhone in your pocket grows up and comes home.

And before you call me crazy, just remember ... my track record isn't half bad. I called Mobile Me exactly and I think I'm onto something here.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for calling.

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I agree with you 100%. The unique factor is going to be something that is no other tablet/laptop can match. Apple announced strong computer sales yesterday and this is a logical step next to convert their huge new "incremental iphone base customers" with a shiny new computer. Linking the phone to the tablet is genius. - Boya

SCOTT's REPLY: And the commercials ... Meet iPhone ... meet iPhone's brother.

I certainly hope that you're right again. I've been waiting for this for years, and thought that the MacBook Air would be something different, something more.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I hope I'm right too, Greg, because remember ... the products i speculate about are the products I also want to own and use.

Very Exciting stuff! a mini tablet where I could work with Excel spreadsheets and word docs along with a bigger browser. I could just slip it into my portfolio and not have to worry about "lugging" around my Macbook Air!

SCOTT'S REPLY: Ha! Lugging around a 3 pound laptop.

Here's something else I've said over and over -- what about a device where you dock the iPhone to the tablet and have the choice to mirror the data on that bigger device? That would allow for the wireless bluetooth keyboard to take center stage.

Precisely. Good column.
The integration of software and hardware and telecom and social networking that fits in your pocket.
Yeah. It might be big.

Apple is moving beyond a simple seller of technology and becoming a provider of integrated social services.
And, yeah, no one else can do it.

Apple also understands how young women relate to technology and what they want to do with it.
And yeah, this also might be big.

SCOTT'S REPLY: So much stuff to look forward to!!

hi Scott.

I guess this is the reason why night after night I'm here Reading iPhone blogs and following up ok every little bit of info I can. I'm no fanboy. But I do think were on the brink of a significant step in how we communicate and function.

I imagine it was not too different back in the 70's when companies like Apple and Microsoft were just starting up and all these business 'specialists' were pulling their noses and and saying: "this computer stuff will never catch on, what could they possibly do for businesses." meantime tons of folks out there were getting way excited about the possibilities.

Very much the same way experts today condemn the iPhone ad an over-hyped toy whilst peeps like you and I are staring gleamy-eyed at the inevitable and exciting future. We see it coming, we're not quite sure what it us but we see it coming. And our guts tell us it's gonna be one heck of a ride.

Cheers.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Couldn't agree more, Shiraz.

It is definitely a possibility with all the pieces together. Bt will it be a moneymaker? The Apple TV is probably the only latest Apple project that has not been a big hit. Yes, it makes money, but not a great hit. Will this be a big hit?

SCOTT"S REPLY: I believe so, Alan, but it will take Apple's marketing genius to make it so ... Apple needs to make it clear under no uncertain terms that you can't do this with any other company -- and that the concept is everything you own everywhere. They've started the ball rolling with MobileMe for calendar and contacts and bookmarks and it's not making the greatest impression. They had better be ready beyond belief for the day when your music, 12MP images, software all go over the cloud.

So to recap the answer to your question, Alan, I truly believe this could be a big, big hit.

Scott - the Mac Tablet or Macbook Touch would be a totally cool piece of hardware. Although the phrase P.O. used was "product transition". What you are describing is a totally new product - sounding like more than just a "transition." Do you think the keyboard would be virtual like the iPhone? I hope you're right about all of this. I would def buy this thing if it came out. . . .Jim

SCOTT's REPLY: Well, depends on how you look at it, though, Jim. A tablet/touch could be considered a transition from laptop/iPhone, right?

No, I don't know that the virtual keyboard would work as well in a bigger device, however, I'd be willing to test it out.

I'm with you 90%. Think you missed a couple of pieces though...
There's a story about this guy that worked at a Saw Mill for 30 yrs. Every day when he left work he had a wheelborrow full of sawdust that he took out the gate. Every day the Guard at the gate poked and proded the sawdust for contraband, but found none. When the man retired, the Guard stopped him on his way out for the last time, and asked "I know you've been stealing something all these years you've worked here, (mentioning the wheelbarrows full of sawdust), come on, just between you & I, what was it?" The man looked him straight in the eye and said "Wheelbarrows."
Apple's the same way. Whatever it is, I'll bet parts of it are already out in public. Apple's 'Hobby' product, Apple TV, is probably part of it. How about everything you said about the tablet, iPhone, the Cloud, etc. BUT using the Apple TV and your HDTV as a huge monitor, the iPhone as the 'Remote Control', the Tablet as the miniturized input device, and the TV as the canvas... or something very close. "Hide in plain sight"...

SCOTT'S REPLY: Certainly plausible, Vic. Certainly.

scott - remember, just a few months back they took out a patent on having solar power capsules or whatever put directly onto portable devices like ipods... My theory is that your tablet idea and this solar deal might mix somehow.

Another thing - the above person spoke about apple TV being a failure - i remember being at a store when that came out, and people were interested in it, and they were asking questions left and right - while it may not have sold a lot of units due its very specific audience, it did get foot traffic in the door and some of those people may have bought a new ipod they didn't know was out, or something like that. Same could be said of the Macbook Air.

Honestly - I think appleTV should go a step further and Apple should start selling flat screen televisions that have AppleTV, DVD players/burners, DVR software and wireless syncing with itunes (similar to how an airport express already works now) to really finish off their seamless media product line.

So to recap... I think either solar panels, tablet, or full-on television series is the big news.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I agree ... I had forgotten about the solar panels but like the possible integration. And I've said before privately that I'd certainly buy an Apple-branded TV. I'm all for that.

I got to thinking about this type of stuff last night after I had listened in on a little bit of the conference call yesterday afternoon. I did a little bit of "non-thinking" (fsj style).. and this is what I can imagine..

You know they're working on stuff right now that a lot of people can't even dream of being in existence. As far as what their competitors can't match, I think they'll really start to exploit the advantages that they have with controlling both the hardware and software by leveraging the cloud.. and putting some of those countless patents into practice.

The particular product that they'll supposedly roll out in the not so distant future could easily be the iTablet everyone's been expecting for.. how long now? I don't think it's taken them so long to get to this point because they couldn't do something like this – rather, they want to make something that's not only amazingly advanced, but also easy to use for everyone.

I do think the more important part of this equation is the whole – what they do with it all in the long run. I can see having an iPhone, an iMac, an iTablet, an TV.. not only will each of these devices be great on their own, but they will complement each other like No Other product ecosystem can. Somewhere between the Remote (iPhone app) and aPowerRanger-like super machine.. being able to control any screen, any interface, any machine, with any of the others. The tag-line for all this wonderful integration?
Separately. Seamlessly.™

I wish I would have written down just what I was thinking last night, because I'm not able to flesh it all out right now.. but I think you'll get my drift.. Here's to hoping they surprise us all!

SCOTT's REPLY: Yep, your drift makes a whole lotta sense to me, Sam!

Scott...I'm on board with you on this new product. As well as a cheaper product.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Cheaper is a key component to the success of this whole thing, for sure.

It'll be a game changer all right. And with Apple sneaking into enterprise boardrooms with its iPhone ... could be a game over game changer. :)

SCOTT'S REPLY: I'm ready to play the game!

A piece of processor glass is located in the hand and is local, right here, while data and apps. are stored there, way over there, up there somewhere inside some vaguely defined, perhaps undefinable, place? It seems that no one is willing to mention what that location actually is except to say that it's in "the cloud."

Naming the location, "the cloud," is perhaps intended to simplify how one thinks about it. Perhaps it's a way for a person ignorant about the technology to hide one's ignorance. Perhaps the process of storage and distribution is so technical that "the cloud" encompasses it all, and allows one to skip right over it.

I want to go way back to nomenclature, specificaly to the phrase, "the cloud." Who invented the phrase? I don't know. I first heard the term being excreted from some Microsoft official who was beating his chest about something, whatever, he seemed to be hoping should be of importance to us all. I don't like Microsoft's history of operation so now I associate the term with MS. I cringe at the term and am reluctant to use it.

Also, unless I associate it with MS, "the cloud" sounds mystical. I am reminded that clouds and cloud banks were used by the Roman Catholic Church and its artists, from the earliest times up to approximately the Baroque period in Western Art, to signify heaven, a location where the saved and the mystically elevated resided and presided, and from which they would peer down on the mundane world and admonish its unsaved inhabitants.

So let's step back for a moment. What is a cloud in information technological terms? It's a f-ck'n server with cables attached to Blue Teeth and network capabilities. When something is stored remotely, as on a server, it's said to be stored on a server, not a cloud at all. The server is traditionally a spinning disk, with many spinning disks forming Apple's and Google's massive data storage centers. Maybe storage will increasingly be stored in solid state media, but it's still a server. In trucking, for example, it's a storage facility, a distribution center which is a warehouse. Nothing more.

Lastly, I guess that Apple got tired of making logos that resemble metal gear so its MobileMe logo is a wimpy, stylized cloud that tries unsuccessfully to effectively convey its services. How mystical but vague. How Microsoft.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Great insight, here. And yeah ... the logo designers were obviously on vacation that day -- either that, or no one showed Steve before the unveiling. Ugh.

"I spoke many moons ago about a scenario where you come home, put your iPhone on the table, sit down and voila! Instant update. Instant sync."

Gosh! You mean, like the Zune? (Except you have to plug in the Zune or place it in a charger)

SCOTT'S REPLY: Like the Zune, only functional, cool and something that people will use. But yeah, like that.

A tablet could be interesting. I know quite a few people who have tablets running Windows and absolutely love them--they're as evangelical as Mac users! So if anybody could "kick start" tablets, it would be Apple and Mac users.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I like the tablet idea if it's not awkward to carry around. If it's like a big ol' book under my arm, I don't like it.

The cloud thing, I'm not as sure. Don't get me wrong--I think it's a great idea. My music is stored where it is available to me whether I'm at work, at home, or out and about with my iPhone.

On the other hand, I really doubt that the labels are going to go for this concept--at least without getting their cut. AT&T might also have something to say about Apple trying to do this on their network. Why can't I use my iPhone as a tethered/bluetooth modem for my laptop? Because AT&T wants it's $60 per month to do that. They're not going to let you do that for $30. The last thing AT&T wants is for their network to get bogged down by bunches of people downloading/streaming their music collections to their iPhones.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, hopefully someone somewhere someday will do something to change the labels and make them finally get on board with change. This isn't 1960 anymore. It's time to move on. I agree, it's an obstacle, but if anyone can overcome it, it's Apple.

I couldn't agree more! I knew the day the iPod was released was a start to the everything everywhere concept. I never have been able to have all my music and video with me at all times because I've always had the smaller iPods. With all the copyright laws it's a natural that the content owners want to control their products, so they will push to keep it stored as few places as possible. This is where the cloud comes in, with the content safely stored on Apples servers they can then have less to worry about.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Yep, Dane. Exactly.

I've been thinking of this "MacBook touch" for a while, actually. So I can safely say that if it turns out to be true and if it's priced at a level I can afford, I'll be getting my hands of one in a heartbeat! :-)

SCOTT's REPLY: It's gotta be priced right. Apparently, that's what Apple was hinting at yesterday. So if it is, wide acceptance will follow, starting with me and you!

wow. yes. wonder what happens when you're a day late with your 99 bucks.....

Seriously.. what's that quote "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (AC Clark). This'll be it.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Indeed. Hmmmm. Maybe if you miss the payment by one day, they start to let some of your stuff out of the cloud.

Good foresight and makes sense but as you said, so far Mobile Me has made a thud of an impression. I know it's early but they need show folks shortly that this great concept can become just as great functionally.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Absolutely, but remember the part I wrote about being the guinea pigs .. if we are the beta testers for the future of cloud computing, we're finding the early bugs now. The bugs seem so massive now because it's all we know about MobileMe. If the cloud handled everything we owned and only part of it didn't work -- contacts and calendars and mail for example, while annoying, it wouldn't seem like nearly as big of a thud.

Could it be that an update to to Apple TV makes it the primary node for MobileMe with enhanced Apple's usual integration of new and old technologies for "Cloud Computing for the Rest of Us"!!!

SCOTT'S REPLY: Could be, but I think Apple TV is just one small piece of the overall puzzle.

I've been wondering if they will lower cost by offering some monthly service like they do with the new iPhone. Imagine the 3G network built into the tablet so you have anywhere access and they get a cut from AT&T.

Replace my DSL modem with some 3G modem that extends the signal and doesn't require a land line....hmmm.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Ok, that idea I like a lot. But ... while tie-ins like that make so much sense to you and me, it would seem MMS would find its way into a scenario where there's a cut from AT&T before this and we still don't have that. I scratch my head over that one daily. Sometimes hourly. There's lots of collaboration possibilities available here ... I see them. ..you see them ... why doesn't Apple and AT&T see them. I'm pretty sure these are good ideas.

Hi Scott. I hear you on the cloud computing but just in case we're not there yet, do you think there's any merit that Apples acquisition of PA Semi and chipsets could be part of this product transition. Eg. Perhaps new iPods (all Multi-touch) with amazing chips and power management at a ridiculously low price...

SCOTT'S REPLY: I absolutely think there's a reason behind every Apple acquisition and in the case of PA Semi, if it's not amazing chips with power management, it's a brand new thing.

It is the CLOUD on a server that works for all:
http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/2008/07/apple-hints-at-something-new-see-for.html

SCOTT'S REPLY: The video shows a virtual desktop being used on an iPhone in Australia. If I had a virtual desktop like that, I could do my entire job from home. Oh, what a world it would be to have that choice if we wanted it with gas prices being as high as they are.

macDaily News has an article based on a source about a Mac Tablet. Still a rumour but good food for thought. Nice (fake) mock-up to make the heart skip a beat too.

SCOTT'S REPLY: It's a beautiful looking mockup

a few things about the kindle:

1. lightweight
2. good battery life
3. e-ink

so, an apple table doesn't completely replace it -- the kindle (and sony reader) have a particular niche that makes computers much more akin to a book.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Fair enough, Nathaniel, but don't you think there's room to improve on it and that a company like Apple could be the company to show Amazon how it's done?

What about the info about haptic tech being used in this product?

SCOTT'S REPLY: Which info is that? I don't remember seeing that anywhere. Maybe it will make it and maybe it won't. I personally like the iPhone's keyboard exactly how it is now.

i agree 100%.
good article the apple does have good marketing strategies.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Thanks, Jillian. I agree. The best!

I dont think the tablet has anything to do with this. You're essentially talking about software that could sync over wifi (you do mention bringing your iphone home and setting it down near the tablet). So why doesn't this work just as well with a current PC or laptop with wifi? It just needs a software update, that's all. So the new product is a piece of software, not a new magical "tablet"

SCOTT'S REPLY: Good question, Steve, and sure ... it could work with anything you have ... however, a tablet seems to be a way for Apple to differentiate itself -- tablets for now are a niche product. I think Apple has the opportunity to turn it into something much larger with touch technology, but you aren't incorrect by any means.

Good grief... I'm always excited about the possibilities of technology, but this blog is nothing short of mastubatory Apple fan-boying.

SCOTT'S REPLY: What is up with the mean and cruel comments today?

Scott-

Perhaps Apple is simply gathering our speculations and deciding what to release based on them. Interactive R&D, consumer-driven.

SCOTT'S REPLY: That would be pretty smart, indeed, J-Bo. Test the waters first.

who cares

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well you cared enough to come here and comment, so apparently you do.

Sorry, I didn't catch your name ...

Not one mention of the Tech Crunch article?

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, no, Dusty, because it doesn't have a single thing to do with what I'm talking about. A $200 tablet? Why?

I think it's going to be a television. My iPhone/Airport Express combo is amazing. I think having a television I can control with the iPhone is a no-brainer. Think about it... The possibilities are endless...

Instead of cable TV, iTV. No more cable bills, everything on demand with a monthly subscription. Internet could be provided via AT&T's 3G network (eventually) and there would be no need for anything but Apple products and AT&T service in your home. You could browse the net on your phone and have it show up on your TV (poor net browsing ability IMO is why internet & TV never meshed, the iPhone could fix that). I could go on and on all day... A tablet, sure, that'd be nice. A TV that integrates your entire network and all your devices... THAT would be mindblowing. I can't wait until I get a phone call on my TV and just stand there and chat looking face to face at someone on the other end using their next generation iPhone with a front facing camera... Please Apple. I've been waiting all my life for this. Make it happen. Put us in the Star Trek age!

SCOTT"S REPLY: Very interesting possibility, Og. Very interesting indeed.

You don't get it! I don't want the same music on my iPod/Phone/Touch as I have on my laptop/desktop! Why would I want 3/4/5 copies of the same song? Auto syncing is a waste of consumer money and world resources.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I get it, Ray. I get it. I never said you had to have the same exact stuff ... I just said your stuff will sync automatically. You can modify whatever you want to.

No. You are wrong.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Oh, no, James. I'm not.

I like the ideas, but not too long ago while surfing the net I cam across something that microsoft has had in the making for quite some time and in many aspects sounds very similar, if not the exact same as your ideas.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, I wasn't exactly trying to describe the $10,000 coffee table, but if that's how it came across, then I guess it's how it came across. And everyone knows that a Microsoft product like that would have an error screen on it 20 hours a day.

I don't use a Kindle, but anything with an LCD screen is not likely to replace it. Screen refresh, even if it is imperceptible, affects attention. The kindle gets by because its screen is basically mechanical. Makes it too slow for viewing movies or games, but its perfect for reading.

SCOTT's REPLY: I agree, but the problem for me is the awkward shape. It's just not comfortable to use unless it's flat on a tray table on a plane or something. Otherwise, I find it hard to use and annoying.

Microsoft surface?

SCOTT'S REPLY: Why does everyone keep referencing this ridiculous coffee table as having anything to do what I am talking about? Do you know what the surface is?

In the second half of your post you're doing exactly what you postulated in the first half of your post: speculating wildly over a little bread-crumb dropped by Apple to get you speculating wildly.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Some speculation, sure, but mostly the product of years of research.

Summed up..basically you're saying that everyone will be:
"Apple's next product is so great. Apple is amazing, what could the product be. FAP FAP FAP APPLE FAP FAP FAP Steve Jobs FAP FAP FAP"

SCOTT'S REPLY: Thanks for taking the time to post something so intelligent, Morgan.

No I don't think so. A tablet to keep your iPhone synced? Why? You already must have a desktop system or a laptop,these systems should and will do exectatly what you said. I do think apple will come out with an ipod WEB though. I think apple found that people like to browse on the iPhone platform. Therefore they will come out with a similar device more suited for the web. This device wont cut into either existing sales to their notebook line or the iPod Touch.
This device will be used for people like me who like to relax and browse at the same time. people will use this device to control all their media in and around their house. with an addition to an updated airport express HDMI and and updated apple TV that can stream multiple media sources you can have access to all your media through out your house

SCOTT'S REPLY: I can see that, Tim.

my friends and I have discussed this for years and yes apple are in a good position to do it. But it isnot a new concept even when windows xp came out microsoft were talking about online os. What you are saying is the middle ground to this and the most functional and instantly proffitable. I don't think the tablet idea works. Your iPhone is your tablet. I am writing this in bed on my iPhone. The iPhone is a perfect tablet just missing some of the right software and the laptop is the perfect format for working on. Keyboards are a good ergonomic size to type fast on. And you need to look up at your monitor etc. MacBook pros are here to stay and hopefully full life intergration between products will come. I also bet they call it 'the i'

SCOTT'S REPLY: I love typing on my iPhone instead of my laptop. I do it all the time, but I wonder if people don't pine for a device that's a little bigger and a little more powerful that can connect to the iPhone. That's why I brought up the idea.

You don't get the Kindle?

Does that mean you haven't actually used one?

I didn't get it either, until I saw the resolution was... well it really looks like paper and not a screen. There is NO comparison to reading on an iTouch. None.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I've used it. It looks good. But the device itself is clunky and unimaginative in my opinion. I just don't see the need to carry this thing around.

The "Finder" has changed the way people think. As I get older I have relied on it entirely to keep up with my diverse activities. It will save me from the Old Peoples Disease Alzheimer's. Has anyone researched this happening? Has anyone noticed that you cannot "Finder" anything on a Windoze machine.

SCOTT"s REPLY: Interesting research, if it has been done. We can do some informal research here, though, Charlie.

I've been with Apple since 1984, what a journey it's been.

I've owned the stock since $7, what a journey that's been.

Their software has always had such elegance, such unbelievable creativity and feel...

this should be fun.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I have been with them since 1984 as well -- well, not working for them, but a follower and believer.

"Mobile Me is the beginning of a new world of computing."

So you are so effing high on Apple's cool-aid that you don't even know it. I stopped taking article seriously at that line.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Ding Dong, is it? Can I call you Ding? I stopped taking your comment seriously at the first word.

Also the Ipod Web that I described earlier is probably the device people thought was the iphone 2. So I suspect this new product to have the front facing video camera for family and business video conferencing on the touch platform.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I hear from so many people that say the front-facing videocamera is a bad idea, but I love the idea and I know I'd love to use it. I have a nephew in South Carolina that I see once a year and I'd love to have a videocamera in my iPhone to chat with him.

Sounds nice, and anything to get the Apple name out there, right. :) That doesn't seem like anything that would ease my life at all. I don't even have an iPhone.
In my dream world Apple would come out with an all-in-one system. I get so frustrated with technology and wires and compatibility. I just want to come home and do what I want to do. That's the reason Apple has always appealed to me, but I would like to see that ultimate product realized. The dvd playing, web surfing, tv watching, game playing (like Halo not solitare lol), video chatting, music playing, movie editing, voice recognizing, work file syncing, ultimate system. With all the little ins and outs for getting home movies and pictures off my camera and wireless speakers in every room so while I'm running around the house cleaning I can hear my music in every room. :D That's the dream.
"Play Artist: Flyleaf"...

I don't think it's far off. Most, if not all, the features are there. They just gotta put it in ONE thing. So I don't have to worry - "does this capture card work with my comp?" or "how many different things do I have to buy to get my tv and my monitor to be the same thing?"

I'm a graphic designer - and with all the technology out there, I don't see why we aren't more advanced. My husband is a System Admin and a Programmer. And I've come up with ideas and he's just said, "we can't do that yet." I'm just an artist, I shouldn't be able to do that... lol.

Sorry it's so long! Oops... I got going and didn't stop...

SCOTT'S REPLY: Nicely stated, Robin. Oh, I love long comments. Feel free always. And I agree .. it's not too far off.

I think you are wrong. If it's as big a deal as Apple is claiming it to be (a real "game-changer"), then it has nothing to do with the cloud or insta-sync of data/apps/media/etc. Why? Because 99% of people couldn't care less, and if they do, it's not for their personal data. I would give an arm and a leg for my iphone to be an extension of my work computer, but I couldn't care less if my iPhone was an extension of my home computer. Really...think about it. Why would anyone (and by anyone, I obviously am referring to the masses and not referring to your readers) care if they didn't sync a song or podcast to their iphone...big deal (and I say this as a commuter in NYC). I'm not going to pay $1000 for something that's major selling point is that it facilitates this "automatic" syncing. Great, so it syncs my photos, apps, etc. etc. too. Again, if it's not related to work, then it's not so important that it can't wait until I get home. Give me the ability to do it for free, and I'll welcome it. But make me buy another device (and charge me a grand, mind you) and I'll say...no, thank you very much.

And I absolutely ABHOR the idea of a single company controlling my device/electronics ecosystem at home. I wouldn't want a device that syncs my iPhone...I would want a device that syncs ANY phone I own, or will own in the future. If anything, I would want a universal ecosystem where my fridge, tv, computer, phone, etc. are all aware of each other and can communicate with one another - not this closed crap that Apple keeps pushing down my throat. And I know that, as great as the iphone is, someone is going to come out with something better, so I don't want to have to base my computer purchase on a phone.

And just as a point of reference, this is coming from someone that spent 3 hours in line for the first generation iPhone, bought the 16gb version the second day it was available, and can't wait for the issues with the 3G to be resolved before I pick up my new baby.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I hear what you are saying, FCM and even though I think this will be big, I appreciate and respect your opinion.

This is the plan; started in the late seventies, a few fanatics kept the drum beating. These odd cohorts had little in common; loved their machine, hated directtions and IT people (except enginers; they get things done) and generally are good people.

I just saw a link to this discussion on the Mac Visionaries Discussion list, a mailing list for the blind and visually-impaired Mac users. As a totally blind individual, I'm worried about the possible consequences this tablet might have on Apple's slowly-growing reputation among the blind for being a provider of products with excellent accessibility. While it's true that we can't really use the IPhone due to it not having a built-in screenreader, we can use the Mac with ease due to VoiceOver and it doesn't require us to go out and pay another $800 or so for a third party screenreading application as do Windows computers. As a general rule, touch screens are inaccessible and if Apple launches this new product without any screenreader or at least support for one, we might be left in the cold again. I was so happy to see how far Apple came with the release of Leopard that I switched from an XP machine to a Macbook this last December. I'd hate to see them go backward.

SCOTT's REPLY: I would certainly hope that Apple wouldn't go backwards with something as important as what you state here.

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