As we near Apple’s Wednesday event, I have been thinking more about what I would do with the Apple Tablet. If the speculations are correct, and the device will be a family sharing bulletin board, casual gaming handheld, multimedia player, and on-line journal reader, then it could be useful for some middle-class households, but personally, I have no practical application for it, and I doubt that many Westerners under the age of 35 do either.

Let me preface this article by admitting that I am an avid Mac apologist and an Apple supporter.

Apple is supposedly hoping to create an entirely new type of product, one that merges netbooks, laptops, conventional tablets, smartphones, and e-readers. I say “supposedly” because everything regarding the Tablet is just guesswork until we see the actual product in three days. Since Apple has been allegedly in negotiations with publishers like HarperCollins and publications like the New York Times for exclusive content, there is evidence that the Tablet will indeed be geared towards e-reading. It is also likely that Apple is extending its iTouch/iPhone gaming platform to the Tablet, so simple games will be part of the repertoire. There is the possibility of Cloud iTunes, the current iTunes store, and the intriguing rumor that Apple is in talks with AT&T and Verizon as 3G carriers. Music, movies, television shows, GPS, and 3G wireless access are probably included in the package.

Aside from the touchscreen, what is actually new about this Tablet device? Nothing, absolutely nothing. An ultra-portable laptop like the 13″ MacBook Pro or even the Air already does everything that the promised Tablet will do (excepting touchscreen). Presumably, content from publishers will be Tablet exclusive, but would you really pay $999, along with subscription fees, for news and book access? I can get the news for free from something called Google, books from the library, and e-books on my smartphone or e-reader. Apple sure is praying that consumers buy into a brand new idea that is still stewing but is nowhere near ready for prime time. Why should prudent buyers not just wait another year instead of investing in a novelty that could fail? If nothing else, by 2011, these tablets will be more affordable owing to greater competition.

Hardware and Price:
Apple purchased P.A. Semi, a PowerPC processor maker, a few years ago for $278 million but has yet to use a single chip designed by this firm. All Macs use Intel, while the iPhone and iPod Touch are Samsung ARM processors. It is not a stretch to assume that Apple plans to base its Tablet (and perhaps future iPhones) around P.A. Semi chips, which are touted as being much more energy efficient than anything that Intel has at the moment.

Even if the Tablet can ship at $999 with a faster processor than a basic Atom, it will still be much slower than an entry $999 MacBook. Herein is one of the proposed Tablet’s biggest problems. At its price, it is much more expensive than a netbook or an e-reader, and while it will do more than the latter, it will not obliterate the functionality of the former. Another enormous obstacle to the Tablet’s success is competition from Lenovo and HP, both of which have powerful tablets in production and other models scheduled for release soon. In fact, these two companies have far more experience with tablets than Apple. I suppose that Apple has to create an entirely new device because all tablets hitherto have been either failures or marginal products.

The more I think about the Apple Tablet, the less I see a need for it. To me, it seems like a niche product that companies might want to experiment with, not spend billions researching and developing. The Tablet that most Mac users have been desiring for years is one that has the power of a MacBook but with touchscreen support. What Apple is supposedly about to unveil is a netbook/e-reader hybrid that only people with too much money or too little sense can justify buying.

If the rumors are true, and this Tablet arrives as predicted, then I will certainly not be buying it. I would love to play with it for a few hours and then come to my senses, realizing that it is unnecessary and even extravagant in today’s economic depression. Why do I need yet another computer when I already have a PC, a laptop, and a smartphone? Just how connected do people have to be? Will there be a specialized computer for each unique room in a house: one for the kitchen, another for the living room, the bathroom, the garage, etc.? Will people just buy the Tablet because they can? If so, then this is not about function, but consumption.

Then again, what do I know. At this point, Apple can sell just about anything. Mr. Ives could artistically design a cement brick, christen it the iBrick, and hundreds of thousands would buy it. Maybe most of the rumors are wrong anyway, and Steve Jobs will pull another rabbit out of his bag.

References: WSJ, Appleinsider, Digitaltrends