Everyone has been talking about the (potential) Apple tablet, and with all that’s been said, and all the fervent speculation, I’ve largely decided to shut up and listen.

And then Tim Van Damme came along with some rad illustrations and some ideas that I hadn’t seen put together before, and got me thinking. His article is thoughtful, and absolutely worth a read.

Tim’s Dream

Tim suggests that it would be awesome if the 2006 patent application for an “iMac-like docking station” could be applied to the tablet. And that it could be extended to fit a notebook form-factor, as well.

Tim Van Damme's original mockup

Above: The original illustration. ©2010 Tim Van Damme. Used with permission.

I love the idea, but like him, I don’t think Apple would swing it. Too much risk for broken parts, and there’s a need for external connectors that could get worn or damaged. Of course, if anyone was going to overcome those issues, it would be Apple. But I don’t really think that’s the direction they’d take.

Changing User Interaction

A while ago, I was talking to a friend of mine. We were discussing the Magic Mouse (it had just been announced) and the multitouch trackpad on newer Apple portables. I’d mentioned to him that I could see Apple taking the Optimus Maximus keyboard, and turning it up to 11.

Tim was gracious enough to let me hack up his image to illustrate my idea.

Jesus, would you look at the edges on that tablet?

My big issue with the slide-in docking station is that it covers up the capitative touchscreen with a (potentially) standard display. We have this novel, new, awesome method of user input, and we’re going to cover it up and use a keyboard and mouse? That doesn’t sound right.

Essentially, I said that I thought Apple would come out with a user-interface device that was wholly a multitouch screen. It would be a keyboard, a trackpad, whatever. And it could be customized contextually such that developers could rewrite the interface being displayed.

In my head, it could be connected to a “real” computer either via bluetooth, or via WiFi (e.g. Air Mouse Pro), eliminating the need for connectors.

On top of that, it could easily function as a standalone tablet running a modified iPhone OS. Document storage could be on the device, or IN THE CLOUD (shoot me) or some syncing solution (in my opinion, an unlikely candidate). I’m not sure how that’s going to work out. But, it’s not like I know any of the other stuff I’ve been going on about. I just think it would be cool.