Wednesday, 27 January 2010, is finally here! Of course, we have to wait another 16 hours for our friends on the other side of the world to hit the 27th, but.. what the hell.. we’ll celebrate anyway…

Unless you’ve been living in cave or you just got out of an Internet exile, you probably would have heard that Apple Inc is holding an event today. Ever since the venue of the event, Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, was booked by Apple, the buzz in blogosphere has grown louder and louder. And fueling the flame, Apple releases this invitation to the press:

Apple’s invitation

“Come see our latest creation.” Marketing brilliance. Now, the world holds its breath to witness what Steve Jobs will bring down from Mount Cupertino.

So what will be their latest creation? All the hints seem to be pointing at an Apple Tablet (or iSlate, iPad, Canvas, Jesus Tablet or whatever Apple decides to call it). Some Apple blogs have even drawn references to Moses in the Old Testament bringing the stone tablets from the mountain. “There hasn’t been this much hype about a tablet since Moses came down from the mountain”, writes columnist David Carr. Sure, Apple is iconic, but is that comparison a bit over the top?

Steve Jobs and the mythical tablet

I believe this analogy is fair enough. They have definitely deserved it. Just recall how Apple reinvented the portable music industry with the iPod, and how it revolutionized the mobile phone industry with its larger-than-life iPhone. People sure can bet the company from Cupertino, California, can do it again with the Tablet. It seems like the publishing industry is the next target this time around. Imagine: digital and interactive e-books, e-magazines, and e-textbooks. It certainly won’t stop there: it will surely be able to surf the net, watch videos and movies and also play games. Any other plus points? We’ll just have to wait and see.

However, on the flip side of this publicity: Has Apple dug its own grave with all this hype surrounding the Tablet? Surely now, technophiles would have been fantasizing  (and techno-masturbating) over the prospects of the impending Tablet. So, whatever Steve Jobs pulls out of his sleeves today : will it be able to live up to all these fantasies and expectations?

More importantly, will it be able to live up to my fantasies? Here is a short list of what I want from this much-talked-about Tablet:

  1. The name: I don’t like any of the rumoured names (iSlate, iPad, Canvas etc). Shakespeare might argue “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” but I feel much rides on what Apple decides to call this device. It won’t make or break the product, but it certainly will leave a first impression. I would prefer something simpler like the Apple Tablet.
  2. A stylus! I know this is seriously unlikely as Steve Jobs himself called it a caveman’s method of data entry in 2007, but annotating and marking documents will be a lot easier. Imagine walking into a meeting room and taking notes using the Apple Tablet and a stylus while others use a traditional notepad. And while we’re at it, throw in a software that can convert our handwriting to plain text!
  3. Readily available content in Singapore! Each country has its own publishing rules, and we might not see publishers’ content in Singapore that fast. If there’s no content, this may well be a dealbreaker for me.
  4. A low price! Ok, everyone wants to see this. I hope for a price around USD700, but realistically, I’m guessing it’ll be closer to 1K.
  5. A hybrid OS, which is a mix of OSX and the iPhone OS. The OS is extremely crucial; Apple needs to get this right to seal the deal.
  6. Above all, I want to see a surprise! I want Steve Jobs to pull out an X-factor that noone guessed; Iwant Apple to shock the techno-world!

Ok, so this is it, Apple. The world is watching. Don’t disappoint.