Apple Mac Tablet or iPhone Nano? You Decide

Commentary

The iPhone has been available for a year now. Since it's inception, I started to question what Apple's next big product release will be. To nobody's surprise it is currently the iPhone 3G. But iPhone aside, I've always anticipated (and hoped and prayed) that Apple's proprietary touch technology would trickle down into some of their other products. An Ipod Nano Touch, or even perhaps an iPhone Nano, unlocked? But at the top of my large wish list is a MacBook Touch. Now that would totally rock. Imagine this...picture the sleek and slender MacBook Air as a monitor-only, keyboard-less device, fully laden with Touch glory. Lightweight, repsonsive, and easy to use. Apparently, I'm not the only one thinking of this. tgdaily states that Apple has hinted to "a key product transition" during their quarterly conference call.

Tablet PC's are certainly not a new concept. Microsoft has been making touch/tablet software for years starting with Windows CE devices and eventually moving up to a full fledged OS with Windows XP Tablet Edition. But what has become all too familiar with Microsft these days, is that they just do not innovate fast enough when it comes to users interfacing with their computers. Granted Vista now has Aero, and Windows Mobile now has WM6.1, but these new versions seem to play catch up in response to Apple.

The graphical user interface (GUI), in my opinion, has always been best led by Apple. In the not too distant past, your typical Apple user was not a high school or even college student. Apple held the attention of a niche group of users primarily made up of graphics designers, web designers, and audio/video editors. That all changed with the iMac and it's simplistic GUI. You pointed and clicked...and it just worked. Nothing to configure or install, just pure ease of use.

And then all things "i" came along and the iPod was born, producing what is now called, the  halo effect. Through this halo effect Apple is domating the smartphone market which in turn drives more sales to it's other product lines. The next logical step for Apple is to perpetuate this with their proprietary touch technology. I hope we don't have to wait too long for Apple's next mystery product.