It’s just a rumor, but we know how these things work, don’t we? That’s why many of us will continue to salivate until the Apple tablet comes down from the heavens on a fluffy cloud accompanied by trumpeting and a few of the less-busy angels.
What it might be, exactly, we’re not sure. There’s lots of conjecture. But I’ve got my money on the Apple tablet causing the iTunes App Store to explode to epic proportions.
So what types of apps would be perfect in tablet form? It’s a safe guess that games are going to look gorgeous on a 10-inch (or so) screen. I’m fairly certain that I will spend inordinate amounts of time playing Peggle ($2.99) on the iSlate (or whatever it’s going to be called) that I keep telling myself I will not buy the minute it comes out on the market.
But for an Apple tablet computer to be successful, it’s going to have to be much more than an expensive gaming machine. Here’s what I imagine will be taking up room on mine:
There’s no doubt in my mind that the rumored tablet will make a great e-reader. It’ll likely supplant my Kindle, and I’m certain it will come with an e-reader app that makes it easy to buy books through iTunes. It will be up to Amazon if they want to improve and expand the Kindle app (free) for use on a tablet. Stanza (free), which allows for easy download of free classics (and thousands of other titles), will be great in tablet format.
To be indispensable, the tablet will need to make an ideal organizer, so I’ll be adding Things ($9.99) to mine, as well as ReQall (free) for quick reminders and Evernote (free) for journaling and note-taking. Whichever your list-making, time-organizing app of choice, it’ll be great on a tablet.
You’ll need to know what’s going on in the world, so plan to install NetNewsWire (free), CNN Mobile (free) and NPR News (free). I live in Chicago, so I’ll have the Chicago Tribune app (free, and I hope they improve it a bit—I’m tired of accidentally tapping the bottom and being sent to install their Horoscope app). For your gossip needs (yeah, I only look at TMZ when no one’s looking, too), you’ll want TMZ (free), Extratv (free), and Gossip Rush (99 cents).
Photos will be pretty to look at on your new tablet, though I haven’t heard much about including a camera in the Apple tablet. My bet is that photo manipulation apps will get much, much better. You can store your photos on Photoshop.com Mobile and manipulate them on your tablet. I’d also try FX Photo Studio ($1.99) to apply neat effects. Show off your photos with the MobileMe Gallery (free), which gives you access to the photos you’ve stored on your MobileMe account.
Social networking will be a dream in tablet format, so I know I’ll have Facebook (free), Tweetie 2 ($2.99) and Pingle ($1.99) on mine.
We may not know what the Apple tablet really is, how it will appear, what it will include, how we will use it, or even if it really exists, but apps will most definitely be the driving force in shaping the future of the device.
