Discussion on:

Apple Tablet PC is real

Will Apple be able to turn the Tablet PC into a success when others have failed?

the only reason it'll take off is b/c 'It Looks cool' and it has the Apple name on it. This might be the thing that get's tablets in mainstream. Having dealt with them for a bit at my work, i think that they were doomed to failure right from the start.

Honestly, that's not the only reason Apple computers have
done as well as they have. Just look at recent history.

Before 1998 nearly all desktop computers, Apple's
included, were basically beige boxes with lots of holes in
the front sitting either on or beside the desk and an
external CRT monitor sitting usually on the nearest
corner; in other words, ugly and utilitarian. Apple
introduced the iMac which put the entire machine,
including the display, into a stylish monitor-sized case
that sat on the desktop and actually took up less space
than its predecessors. For the home this was a welcome
change that started Apple back on the road to recovery.

Move ahead about 4 years and the iMac gets a new look
(the Daisy iMac inspired by Pixar's "Luxo Jr." video short)
and Apple introduces the iPod, now competing with Sony
and other manufacturers for the MP3 music business.
Because of its ease of use and graphical display, the iPod
quickly surpassed all competition in sales; not because it
"looked cool" but because it really worked as easily as
advertised.
Meanwhile, Apple's design influence triggered changes in
its competitors' lineup, Dell, HP and others trying to turn
their beige boxes into something more esthetically
pleasing; but not really changing their form factors. All
this while, Apple had its top-of-the-line Macs in a stylish
but quiet plastic and aluminum case for corporate
use in the enterprise. However, it was also around this
time that Apple introduced OS X, making the Apple the
first factory-built Unix-based desktop computer.

Advance to the current day. Now we have iMacs with
larger displays taking up less desktop space than the old
PCs. The iPod holds the lion's share of the portable music
market and now the iPhone has revolutionized the cell
phone industry. Again, everybody is attempting to play
catch up and technology is moving forward.

If Apple's tablet PC is what I think it will be, then the PDA
market, now owned by the Palm OS and Windows Mobile
(or whatever it is called) will be overturned, creating a new
revolution in a stagnant market; something Apple has
been doing now for 10 years.

Make it about the size of a trade paperback book (about 7x9
inches) and it would be the perfect size for almost all portable
computing purposes. At this size it would be convenient for
note-taking as well as being able to easily read ebooks and
view videos along with everything else a PDA is used for. This
size would also serve very well in the medical, industrial and
corporate fields, effectively replacing all the paper
documentation currently still used by these professionals.

Weight was the biggest issue i saw on many tries I participated in. A 5 or 6 pound tablet is just not convinient.

90% of apple's business is built on the creative designer and the educational markets. I would expect that they would cater to these folks at first before really pursuing corporate customer for general business.