Apple Tablet - Predictions? Sure why not. Google Voice on the Tablet?

Apple Tablet predictions and speculation...everybody's got 'em. So why not me, so I can be wrong on the record just like everyone else.

Apple has this magical ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and to turn the legitimately remarkable into untouchably awesome.

However, when you break things down most of what Apple excels at is great user experience thrown on top of something that is really not all that special.

The iPhone, for example, is shrewdly misnamed, as the fact it is a phone is actually one of its least useful, novel or exciting features.

Apple redefined mobile computing and mobile internet connectivity and called it a phone to just throw everyone off the scent and send them off to make fancy phones versus solid and competitive mobile devices.

Also, Apple is not not immune to flops and hype that does not really materialize into a product that is actually a huge seller. Apple TV? Ho hum. iTunes? Clunky, painfully necessary and not a huge revenue machine itself for Apple. The MacBook Air? Did not cause a noticeable uptick in the sale of those orange-yellow envelopes and I think there were more MacBook Air commercial spoofs on YouTube than actual MacBook Air sales.

So the Tablet. Hype or substance? Hm.

Prediction #1: Just a gussied up MacBook Air

There is nothing new about tablet computers and there are seriously few things that can be done to the actual form factor to really revolutionize it.

And there is all this talk about bluetooth keyboards and this and that. Not necessary.

I think the Tablet will be 10 inchish, extremely light and basically be a MacBook Air with a touchscreen, a swivel and fold down screen (and a full keyboard to use as a laptop or tablet), some fancy hand motion recognition, some cutesy user interface nods, and a 6-8 hour battery life.

It's just a MacBook Air with a touchscreen. Relax.

Prediction #2: Google Voice on the Tablet

For all the turmoil, hemming and hawing that happened when Google made the Google Voice app for the iPhone you have to believe that the bulk of that was AT&T inspired.

Apple and Google know how to play the game and work their roles in these theatrics.

Google owns YouTube and Youtube is the native video playback app on the iPhone so clearly Apple and Google know how to tag team this.

An Apple Tablet with full integration with Google Voice, a blue tooth headset and wifi, mifi or your own G3 and you are good to go.

Apple wins because they sell more hardware without the encumbrance of an old school telecom.

Google wins because...they are Google. They get you. Google Voice leads to Gmail (if you are not using it already), leads to Google this and Google that.

The only question I would have is does Google have enough Google Voice phone numbers.

Prediction #3: The Apple Tablet will again change the game but this time people understand the rules

I personally think the tablet form factor has a time and place and has profound implications for the eBook reader guys (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Sony). But I think they have learned the lesson the iPhone painfully taught: Don't be so stupefied by the product that you fail to recognize its actual function.

Amazon has the Kindle...ok. It also has a Kindle app for the iPhone. Huh? Amazon gets it. It's about content delivery and distribution not about building better hardware than Apple.

If you try to build better hardware than Apple(from an aesthetic, reliability and customer service and experience perspectives) you will get your proverbial ass handed to you. (Dell and their MacBook Air chasing Adamo line...stupid).

I cannot believe that Amazon is holding its hopes of content delivery on the Kindle. The Kindle was technologically obsolete when it was released. Black and white only screens...really? What is this 1953?

The Kindle was a necessary step and proof of concept for is eBook distribution model. They HAD to do it.

Will they sell Kindles? Yes but positioning itself as THE eBook distributor on platforms and form factors (iPhone and Apple Tablet) is the key.

So the Apple Tablet will change the game again but the players better understand basic rules for success.

That's it

That's all I've got for now.

Moral of the story: Don't try to beat Apple in the hardware game. Use them as a content delivery platform.