I’ve been reading so much about the (presumably) soon-to-be-announced (tomorrow!) Apple tablet, that I (decidedly NOT a fanboy) am actually kind of excited. I do love this pre-release hype. It makes the Apple tablet out to be some sort of gadget geek dream receptacle. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, but the realistic, logical side of my brain keeps reminding me that the long list of as-yet-unfounded “leaked details” reads more like the wish list of today’s über nerd.
I’ve heard that it is going to change TV viewership. I’ve heard that it will change newspaper readership. I’ve heard that it will be $1,000.00. I’ve heard that it will be substantially less than $1,000. It’s going to crush Kindle! Jobs has been “in discussion with Conde Nast”! It’s going to be an amazing gaming platform! It’s going to have facial recognition capabilities! It will be thin! It will Skype! It will have a massive touch screen keyboard!
Yeah, right. So, as long as we’re adding our wants to this thing, here’s my list:
- I really do want to read magazines on it. I want to subscribe to them through iTunes. I want some of the pictures to actually be video. I want to flip through pages just like the real thing (like in that Sports Illustrated demo released a number of weeks ago). I want someone to get me the ad specs ASAP. I want built-in measurement of ad effectiveness.
- I want the battery to last longer than 8 hours.
- I want AR software (and a webcam) built in.
- I want expandable memory (SD card slot, please. Just like on my non-iPhone, thank you very much).
- I want it to be under $500.
If it can do everything above PLUS my list, then I’ll be in line at the Apple store on Thursday morning to get my fourth screen. (I’m a strong believer in redundancy, and actually pretty opposed to total convergence. I’m sorry, but until someone bests Windows phone on Office integration, I’ll happily run around with at least two screens!)
Seriously, though, if this can somehow help the print publishing industry, tell HR that I’m taking a personal day.
