Chances are that, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would have heard a rumour going on that Apple is releasing a tablet.

ipad_touch_mock_up

Apple Tablet Mock Up

As with every Apple product, as of lately, there is always a dose of skepticism among in the press. People are pretty much divided amongst the group who think that there is no need for a tablet (pointing out companies that have long tried and failed, such as Microsoft), those who think it’s just going to another iPhone but in a bigger size with Kindle features and those who think this really could be a next step and a brand new market. It’s worth pointing out that this discussion has many parallels with when Apple was releasing the iPhone. Many thought it was destined to fail and no one would want an over-priced smart phone without a keyboard. We all know how that turned out.

In any event, in my humble opinion, I think Apple knows that a lot is riding on this. They knew this from the start, because they know that expectations are always going to be higher for Apple and anything less than a spectacular product is going to be a failure for them.

Everyone knows it’s the mythical (unobtainable?) holy grail, yet no one knows quite what it will look like or how needs to behave in order to fit between the laptop or the mobile device… or even replace them altogether. There are so many considerations and so many user preferences at play here. This isn’t just a mere evolution of personal computing… whatever the tablet will be, it would have to be something really tuned and refined, in a way that makes complete sense as a new tool. It’s hard to imagine just how Apple will pull this off, but, if anyone could, it would be Apple.

In any event, it’s only a matter of time now. Apple will be revealing their tablet (or not?) in less than 12 hours.

If you want to follow the coverage live, check out Engadget’s live feed. I’ll be posting my thoughts along the way. I’m excited!