According to a handful of analysts with connections to the Apple network, the highly anticipated tablet product being worked on by those trendy mad scientists who brought us the iPhone will be a video game console, and may be on the shelves as early as Christmas.

Somewhere off the coast of Washington, in his island fortress of evil surrounded by missile turrets and volcanoes, Bill Gates and his Microsoft minions just shuddered.

This new gadget will reportedly act as a mobile "media hub," and will sport a respectable 10-inch multi touch-screen display. It will connect to the internet, stream music and movies, converse with any other Apple products in the vicinity, give you a back massage and listen to you gripe after a long day of work, make polite conversation at the dinner table, and leave sacks overflowing with Spanish dubloons on your doorstep as a sign of affection. Basically, it will be the king of all iPhones.

...and it'll play games. Games with access to that powerful, many-armed media Kraken, the Apple Store. A scary, exciting thought.

Apple's tablet should retail somewhere between $600 and $1,000. Pretty steep for the gaming community, even considering all that the product does. Still, with a few well-designed titles behind it, the iTablet (I'm assuming the name here based on the trend) could scatter seeds of interest across the gaming community, seeds that could very likely grow into new technology to be unleashed in the next generation of the 'console war'. Maybe by then Apple will even be a competitive challenger.

Try as I might, I can't shake the image of Bill Gates looking over his fortress from atop a balcony, stroking a genetically engineered pet and plotting the iTablet's demise.

Greg

Labels: Apple, Greg Mengel, iTablet

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