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It seems to be the done thing to speculate wildly about Apple’s much rumored super special magic tablet, and as I’ve got one of these internets, and keyboard and an ability to type that seems to make me qualified to comment. So, here goes…

Firstly, lets look at what we actually know. That won’t take long – just two words in fact – “nothing really”. The Wall Street Journal* published and article that MacObserver suggest is about as close to an official leak as we’ll ever get, and there are reports that Apple have organized a press event for the 26th January. That’s it.

* The original article is can be found on the WSJ here, but I’m not paying for a subscription so can’t read it… or share it.

Before I lurch headlong into poorly thought out predictions, I’d just like to  say that right now I’m best  to rid myself of Apple and the days are numbered for both my iPhone and Mac Mini. I don’t see  myself buying one of these mythical beasts as right now I can’t see how it would replace anything I’m using right now. With that said, time for some baseless predictions.

My big hope is that the tablet sets Apple’s sights on bringing eBooks into the mainstream, by including an application and book store that does for books what iTunes did for music. If eBooks are on the agenda, then I’d expect to see electronic, multimedia editions of magazines right there alongside – with single issues and subscriptions sold through iTunes. If the written word is the focus, then it would be very similar to what Apple did with music and podcasts. New eBook readers seem to be appearing on a daily basis, and Apple might think the time is right to do here what they did with the iPod and iPhone – enter a market that’s just gaining a foothold, refine the experience and add just the right amount of shiny, stick an Apple logo on and ship it to the masses.

If  eBooks are on Apple’s agenda, I really hope they stick with a format that’s already pretty widely used- Secure ePub. If they do this, then they’ll open up their potential market way beyond tablet owners, and maybe help to marginalize the threat from Amazon’s Kindle. An knock on effect would be that publishers would have to get their arses in gear and start getting their back catalogues out as eBooks, and as a Sony Reader owner, I wouldn’t complain about that. Of course, just as likely is that they’ll invent a whole new format just for shits and giggles.

If rumours are to be believed and this device is going to come to market at or around $1000 then I don’t think it takes a genius to work out that this will be much more than the worlds shiniest eBook reader, it will have to do a lot more. I’m imagining a supersized iPod Touch – web browser, media player (that plays nicely with HiDef content and will plug into your TV) and maybe , just maybe Apple can even “innovate”  some multitasking magic to make this an Apple device that’s useful in the “real time” online world. Oh yeah, and of course if you want to install software then head on over to the tablet’ very own app store. Now that Apple have illustrated  just how lucrative a single player marketplace can be I don’t expect them to abandon it any time soon.

If both of these ideas are anywhere near the mark, I’d say Apple’s biggest challenge will be the screen – the  reason I like my Sony Reader is the fantastic screen that makes reading a pleasure, if its plain old LED (or other backlight dependent technology), then I’m not convinced it’ll be much fun to read for long periods.

Generally I’ve never been a fan of tablet devices, in my time at Proporta I was lucky enough to get my hands on a range of tablet devices from various manufacturers and the same problem cropped up time and time again – using a device that size in the way you’re expected to is just akward. Typing is a pain, you either have to support the device with one hand and poke the screen with a single finger (which is slow) or rely on keyboard that’s split across the two edges of the device (which is a pain as it takes an age to get used to them). It doesn’t really end there though, you’re sitting down and ready for some tablet-ing, then you can’t just put it on your lap and type away, that is unless severe neck ache is something that helps you sleep at night. That said, Apple did manage to produce the first mobile phone with truely usable on screen keyboard, so maybe they’ve got an ace up their sleeve, we’ll have to wait and see.

What do I base all this on? The same thing as pretty much everyone else – nothing. It’s all one big guess, it would be fucking sweet if I was right though. I’ll even write my very own “told you so” post to celebrate. Not that anyone will read it, they’ll be to busy blogging about how cool the tablet it and how they can’t wait to buy one. Suckers.

Oh yeah, in reading the literally some articles about the tablet I came across Robert Scoble’s response to an article by Joe Wilcox on Beta News pointing out just how very wrong Joe Wilcox is about everything tablet. One thing struck me about all the example Mr. Scoble gives about brilliant tablets currently being use – they’re all fixed in place. Not a single one solves the clumsy mobile experience that has, as far as I’ve seen, always accompanied tablets.

So, just a few weeks to wait to find out for real, and one think I can say for sure, the tech press is going to be full of unbearable levels of all things Apple until way after this tablet ships.