1. A Tablet does not need to lie flat. - Robert Scoble

2. An Apple Tablet would find a HUGE market just waiting. Our coffee tables. - Robert Scoble

3. There are a huge number of people who will buy ANYTHING Apple puts its name on. Well, OK, Apple TV proved that isn't quite true. - Robert Scoble

4. If hosting a virtual keyboard takes too much real estate on a 10 inch display, I guess they didn't see the iPhone. - Robert Scoble

and if only there were molds that could make these things fit us perfectly, like a blackberry hand mold, would rock the available accessories.... - Liza + = ?

5. I used to own a tablet, made by NEC. It was my favorite computer. Bill Gates bought 400 of them to give to his closest friends, too. It was really awesome, nice and thin, easy to carry around. - Robert Scoble

6. I guess he didn't see that the Amazon Kindle is pretty close to a tablet and works fine. - Robert Scoble

7. I want a computer I want watch TV with and interact with while watching TV. A Tablet is BETTER than a laptop in that mode. - Robert Scoble

Urban legend is that the NO buttons were a decision that was so important that he does not wear buttons - mock turtle...But surely his jeans have a button, and his car, and other items.... - Liza + = ?

8. Artists actually don't like Tablet PCs. Why? Not enough screen realestate. He's right there, but for the wrong reasons. - Robert Scoble

9. Note taking in class? I dare you to copy a chemical molecule in text on a keyboard, or write an advanced mathematical formula without a pen. Of course, if this writer really wanted to make a good point, just use pencil and paper and take a picture of that with your iPhone. - Robert Scoble

good points, Robert. Form factor and software functions / features are related, but can can really take products in different directions. - Lora Heiny

(Disclosure: Lora works on Microsoft's Tablet PC team). - Robert Scoble

Their definition of "tablet" is way too restrictive. A Kindle IS a tablet. A tablet, in my opinion, simply means a computing device with the capacity for input while in a two-dimensional format. - Trent Hamm

My HP-TX2 is the best computer I've ever owned. Evernote on this baby is what's getting me through my Linear Algebra class this semester. Also, Civilization 4 is awesome in tablet mode. - Scott Ohlemacher

robert - apple tv kicks arse, provided you install boxee on it. - Terry O'Fee

Terry: I totally agree. - Robert Scoble

My thought: lets see this thing before we criticize it. It's an Apple tablet after all. I know a certain phone that was criticized for being a me-too phone as well. - Ryan Massie

Agree except for a few things. For 7, it's still easier to have a laptop form factor sitting in your lap instead of having to hold it with a slate. For 9, Sorry but people won't be inking notes in class with their finger on a capacitive touch screen. What's missing is the active tablet and ink/character recognition that doesn't take up a lot of resources. - Rodfather

Ryan: all good products have haters. - Robert Scoble

Rodfather: absolutely disagree. Reading or getting comfortable on a couch is much easier with a Tablet. Oh, and let's not forget sitting in coach seats in planes!!! - Robert Scoble

I kind of ripped into him on mashable: http://mashable.com/2009... - Ben Parr

i still really wish they'd make a 10 inch MB, though. they must know a smaller version would sell well, regardless of price.. - Terry O'Fee

Ben: I missed that totally but glad great minds think alike. - Robert Scoble

(Update: Last fiscal year I worked on an education project and some tangential things, like the Tablet Accessibility Imagine Cup award. Still find Touch & Tablet PC future concepts really intriguing. On to new things in the next few weeks :) ) - Lora Heiny

Looks like someone's trying to fill Dvoraks hater pants. - Joshua Schnell

It's probably because Mashable tweets are getting lost in the cloud. Twitter's experiencing a slowdown. - Ben Parr

Robert, whatever floats your boat. For me, it gets tiring and hot having to hold a slate all the time. I like having my hands free. - Rodfather

Rodfather: keep in mind that I own three laptops and my wife owns one and my son owns one. So this would be IN ADDITION to a laptop, not as a replacement for. - Robert Scoble

I suspect the iTablet is actually going to be much like the HP TX2, likely running OS X with some mobile features (like note taking / a program like One Note) and the capacity to read books from the iTunes store - or possibly functioning as a Kindle. - Trent Hamm

Yes, that's fine. I'm just pointing out it's easier for me to couch surf with a laptop form factor. If both are actually released, I'll be grabbing both but who knows what their use will be for. - Rodfather

I see the potential in a virtual keyboard that has been missed up to this point by everyone. Allow the users to program the "keys" with shortcuts and such. Then the real estate being "lost" to the kb suddenly becomes productive and valuable. Other points were generally spot on, Robert except #1- whether it has to or not- other than flat how else is a tablet going to lay? Little pop-out legs? - Alyx

Rodfather & Robert: one big issue you're pointing out is definition that media is using vs common use of words we're used to, ex. tablet, slate. These are form factor biased. iPod Touch, iPhone, Kindle -- all very successful slates. Specialty PCs with multitouch, handwriting, etc. like the HP TouchSmart PC or a Motion Computing slate are similar form factors and very different in size. Software will be a primary difference across these devices and PCs. Very exciting possibilities as the continuum across these groups expand and blur. - Lora Heiny

I doubt this Tablet will have any inking capabilities at all and it won't matter. It's all about consuming not creating with the possible exception of video/audio/etc.... - Warner Crocker

And the PCWorld article was just trash. - Warner Crocker

I think an Apple tablet would be kinda neat, and watching movies on a tablet can be ok, but not always as nice as a regular laptop or even netbook (depends on how you're sitting/laying). I think though that not having a full-fledged OS X running on it will severely limit its potential... - Jan Ole Peek

Yes, the article was crap - Rodfather

I wonder what the hardware will be .. will it run photoshop? if so there's a winner - Dylan Richardson

Love point number 9 - Gustavo Gomez

Dylan, Photoshop on a 10" screen isn't that amazing. Plus the hardware would have to be faster than my Dell Mini 10v with 2gb of ram to do anything more than basic photoshop stuff. - Jan Ole Peek

I'm not so sure this thing will be a hit. Who's the audience for this device? Current Mac/iPhone users? They own a Mac and an iPhone now they're going to buy a tablet...for what reason? What can they do on the tablet they can't do on their Mac's? Handwriting recognition...unlikely, used as a video/music/TV player...possibly, but this can already be done without needing another device, e-book reader (aka Kindle)...I could see this possibly working if integrated with the iTunes stores - based on the Apple fan base this could crush any momentum the kindle currently has. I'm not saying it will fail, I just don't yet see that something special the tablet would bring. - Kenny

They also missed the point that Apple wouldn't want OSX on this. They like controlling the platform and limiting the available apps. The buzz for the Crunchpad is a pretty good indicator that a lot of people would like these, at least early adopters. The mass market may not 'get' it yet, but they're just now getting full use of the iPods and iPhones they bought in the last year. - Jon Adair

I would never bet against anything that Says "Apple". But actually http://itablet.com is promoting Vista Tablets... - Robert Higgins

PC World vastly overlooked the gaming market as well. As a hand-held device with a larger screen, I am sure developers are drooling at the opportunity of an entirely new market for games. Larger screens open one set of flood gates and clouds knock down the dam. I would wager very few of us can conceptualize the possibilities of such a market in 3 years. - thestaticfrost

I'm with Kenny. I don't see it, yet. Usually Apple goes into a market to completely dominate. I don't see it here.., yet. Which devices will it try to take over? Netbooks, GPS nav devices, media-players, ebook readers, portable gaming devices? Take on the vertical markets and replace all the tablets in hospitals with this? No clue. - Rodfather

thestaticfrost - Agreed, a gaming device has some potential. - Kenny

Rodfather: there is one place in your home that NO ONE dominates yet: your coffee table. Another? Your kitchen counter. Apple could make a neat market by going after JUST those two places. - Robert Scoble

Who's got room on the kitchen counter? - Eric - Ball So Hard

Robert, perhaps. I don't see Apple making a huge hit with that segment. They usually go in to dominate. We're talking about a 3rd or 4th device now after a laptop, netbook, and smartphone. For me, I don't spend that much time in the kitchen. I wouldn't buy a whole new device for the bathroom or to replace my clock radio either. - Rodfather

Rodfather: Apple rarely goes into dominate. They haven't dominated cell phones yet, gaining only a few percent of market share so far. But what they DO dominate is mindshare. Here Apple could very cleanly dominate in both places once again. You might not spend that much time in the kitchen, but a lot of people do. - Robert Scoble

C'mon Rodfather, you have to admit, an Apple Tablet, whatever it turns out to be would be a great Stall Surfing device. :) - Warner Crocker

I'll just say this, since wireless became ubiquitous, I take my laptop into the kitchen all the time. I store recipes on delicious or other websites, and I just pull them up, instead of printing them out and taping them to the cabinet door like I used to. The iMac is too big for our tiny kitchen, so I'd be all over an OS X tablet. - Ha3rvey, industrial grade

I'm sure it'll be fantastic and I would get one, and yes Warner, I would use it on the can. :) I just don't understand the market they are going for. From what I know now, I don't see it having the same impact as an iPhone, iPod Touch, or a MacBook. - Rodfather

Robert Higgins - after looking at your link for iTablet.com the kitchen is what came to my mind. Robert - It could have some cool uses there but I'm still not sure there is much of a market for this type of device. But having this type of device in the kitch could be kinda cool. Imagine it sitting there and using the touch screen to scroll on web sites, use it to hold recipes, integrate it with the home phone (like a Verizon hub, but mobile), use it as a small TV in the kitchen then pick it up and carry it to the living room to read a book you down loaded from iTunes - again all very cool but not enough people are into that type of device...yet. Future generations of tablets (both Mac and Windows versions) as they get more robust could be a growing market...you gotta start somewhere. - Kenny

Here's the real question I have about all of these new slates -- Can I get my typical right-click functionalities? And if so, how? Because I use the heck out of "Copy Link Location" and "Open in New Tab". - Miss Elle

Most tablets if they have a digitzer stylus pen will have a button on it to hold down for right-clicking. - Jan Ole Peek

Miss Elle - if it's a touch screen you would most likely just 2 finger tap for the right click functionality, just like you do know on Mac laptops - Kenny

I want a coffee table / kitchen counter tablet asap!! Must be simple and elegant as my iPhone; designed for web browsing. - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

Most likely, hold down to register a right-click. That's how it works for touchscreens on Windows Tablet ed, Vista, & 7. Holding down on a link/image in Safari on the iPhone also gives you a menu. - Rodfather

This article reminds me of Steve Ballmer laughing at the iPhone for not having a physical keyboard. - Dennis Chiuten

IF that device shipped tomorrow, and assuming for this discussion it's not a PoS, my only decision is how many rooms would have one on the wall this year and how many would I wait for the next revision. Why do people think laps & tables are to only two places this would be used? I want my first one on the wall in my bath/dressing room; so I can glance at it from the shower and while getting dressed to get the morning news, weather, stocks, Tweets, etc, etc, etc ... standing & walking around. - Don Strickland

The guy (Michael Scalisi) who wrote the article for PC World is an IT Manager from somewhere, he isn't clued in to how such a device would/could be used - just ignore it! - Geer

As someone else mentioned, just like the iPhone, I think there is no way to surmise what an Apple tablet will be - they probably won't call it a tablet. And most underestimate the marketing prowess of Apple. I can see an extension of the "we've got an app for that" ads already. - PXLated

An apple tablet with what sort of touch interface? If like iPhone, from an artist's point of view, not good. I like doing graphics/cartoons on digital devices, but windows mobile was always too small to draw really big illos with, though spot cartoons it wasn't bad. Would LOVE an Apple tablet I could use a stylus with. And yes, there's a huge market for one. You wouldn't have to squint or squeeze to read a whole news item. - George Hall (Australia)

Guess if I had a choice, though...if a crunchpad had the ability to do art/graphics with a stylus and an apple tablet didn't, I'd buy the crunchpad instead...though I'd still be eyeing the Apple tablet for a bit later... - George Hall (Australia)

I want my Newton 2100 back but with web capabilities and a color screen. - Mark Davidson from BuddyFeed

Apple's device is out there to destroy the netbook, the Kindle, and the legal pad. That's a pretty sweet target imo. - Trent Hamm

i still think they should make a small form macbook. the tablet will be interesting and maybe very good, but theres people out there who want some reliable small netbooks, laptops, whatever you want to call it. - Terry O'Fee

Have to say I don't get the whole idea of the ITablet/IFoleo. A netbook - Yes. For me this back to the days of one device for calling, one device for viewing, one device for typing. I am sure there would be a nitch for it like Robert watching TV on it, but It would hardly be the innovative design that Apple is known for. I can see it now, like a nightmare, People walking around in the streets with giant Iphones. Apple, please don't make my nightmare come true - Asgeir

By definition, a tablet does need to lie flat. But otherwise agreed. - xero

Xero: I disagree. A tablet needs to be able to be configured in some fashion to be flat, but it does not need to be flat, period. Take HP's excellent TX-2 - it's a tablet, clearly, but it's also got a keyboard and with a quick rotation, it serves as a laptop. - Trent Hamm

For the purposes of writing upon the tablet's screen, a tablet needs to be able to lie flat on a flat work surface such as a table or desk in order for it to actually be used like a tablet of paper, a notebook, a clipboard, which is what it is replacing. Just like any other laptop/notebook computer, it is ergonomically ignorant to assume it can lie in ones lap or cradled in ones arm for periods of 55 minutes or more. Or more simply, the sucker gets hot after a few minutes, it's uncomfortable to hold after a few minutes, and it's hard to write on something that is rocking about. Does it need to be paper thin or completely flat? No. - xero

O, Robert, say it isn't so?! What will I offer my guests for light water closet reading? :) - Melanie Reed

Geer: I'm totally with you on your comment about the author. Apparently, it's become really easy to write for PCWorld now. You don't need to know how to write, just be an in the tech biz at some level with some hair-brained story about a rumored product's future failure. Bizarre. - Paul Salzman