Although I am not an apple fan, it seems to me like they’re going to take the bull by the horns and actually show what a tablet can do.  I was kinda hoping Microsoft would do that at the keynote speech at CES, however they just breezed over the fact that they had some Tablet PCs on the stage, they showed nothing regarding capability of the device. What a crock!

Apple however are gearing up for this huge press conference in the US, they’ve not just invited press from the gadget mags but also gaming journos too.  Which implies that with this tablet apple will not only try to take ereader tech to the next level, they will also try to tackle the gaming market too.

What do I want from a Tablet? A FAIR price and top of the list? A Long lasting battery or an announcement of peripherals that will help boost the battery life of any tablet.  Battery is important especially if you are going to peddle your tablet/slate as some sort of ebook reader, I’m a relatively slow reader and don’t want to be caught out by a failing battery at the end of my book.

Also when you talk about battery, don’t piss me about and say approx 12 hours reading and music… then reduce that figure by 60% when talking about viewing videos.

Next on the list? CBR/CBZ reader, I’ve collected a lot of comics over the years and as a fan of comic books, I have recently lost my way.  A Tablet device could not only be used to subscribe to magazines and other colour media online but could also renew an interest in the many comic books out there just waiting to be discovered again!

Then we have ebooks, allow us to add notes and what not to a page, Be the first to price ebooks fairly, we do not HAVE the physical product so why the hell are those of us who have adopted the ebook format already be punished by paying hardback prices for new releases.  Why do we also pay VAT on ebooks in the UK when the actual books are VAT Exempt?!?!

If the apple tablet is going to open up a whole new store in Itunes PLEASE let the files be ePUB format, come on apple HELP the industry move towards adopting one standard.  Although I have a feeling apple will have their own DRM and those of us who have ePub books already will be left with a device that won’t read them… an expensive device at that.

Media? I don’t care about music, I have an ipod for that… allow us to transfer not just MP4 but AVI’s.  This could be a clincher as I don’t want to have to spend hours converting video files just so they’ll go on one device to watch whilst on a journey.

I am excited and there are a lot of rumours out there regarding this new device but the geek in me just can’t hide the excitement.  I don’t think we can rule out HP though as they REALLY seem to be pushing their laptop out there although it lacks the roar of Apple’s coming announcement… Come on HP, a windows 7 tablet can do all of the above you just need to get it out there and SHOW what it can do.  Don’t lay down and say “It’s a windows 7 tablet” show us it can play video, show us it can cope with ebooks, comics, etc…

This is the year of the tablet and I PRAY they get it right this time around.