Incremental Blogger

NBC’s Tim Russert died today of a heart attack.

Listening to MSNBC online remembering Tim Russert.

We’ll miss you.

My two cents worth: Yahoo should acquire AllTop.com along with Guy Kawasaki.

Why? Besides getting one of the new darling websites AllTop, Yahoo would gain the company of one of the top tech evangelists–Guy Kawasaki. Imagine what he could do to revitalize Yahoo’s image.

What an exciting challenge that would be.

What are the things he might do? Well, I guess it would depend on what arrangements Yahoo might make with him. Might they encourage him to keep going with his investments? Not a bad idea. Maybe Yahoo could even throw in a percentage in exchange for a stake.

What might Guy do to advocate Yahoo advertising content? Can’t you see him twittering and talking with site owners making the case to run Yahoo ads? Imagine the value of the feedback he could gain and give back to the engineering teams.

And can’t you envision him helping to showcase flickr to a larger audience or communicate via TV interviews and the like the value of Yahoo mail or Yahoo news or Yahoo Finance? He’d be a natural–because he is a natural.

The synergy is obvious to me.

Of course, the odds are that Guy would say no, but then again maybe if Yahoo throws in an ice rink and a couple autographed hockey shirts from his favorite teams….hmmm

Update: A couple people have messaged me saying they don’t get it. I guess the hockey shirt idea isn’t obvious enough :-).

Well, forget the shirts, let’s just focus on the web sites. Currently, with AllTop, Guy and the Nononina venture are all about listing top blogs and sites on the Net. Like any directory (which by the way is part of the DNA of Yahoo), the directory is a destination in itself as well as a service that drives traffic to each of these sites. The site owners can see the results. They see that traffic is coming from AllTop, which means they already have a relationship with AllTop and indirectly Guy. I mention Guy specifically, because since AllTop was launched you can see him on Twitter interacting with people, looking for good sites, advocating the AllTop site itself. You can see him building relationships. OK. So Guy has what looks to me like the foundation for a good relationship with these top sites. Now, what’s often as important to these sites as the traffic AllTop can help them get? Ad revenue. And this is where the tie in with Yahoo might come in.

It’s not just AllTop sites where this type of approach could be used. There are many others. I’ll leave it to you to make your own mental suggestions.

And finally, what’s in it for AllTop? Joining Yahoo would help AllTop grow far beyond where it is now both in traffic and in terms of a business model. Again, makes sense to me.

In this “after the show” WorkFastTV interview with Mr. Office 2.0 Ismael Ghalimi by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, a question popped up that’s near and dear to my heart.

Robert asks, what about multi-touch and rich user experiences with web-based Office 2.0 style apps?

Ismael gives his answer around the 10 minute mark talking about how a touch device larger than an iPhone and smaller than a Eee PC makes sense. I agree. Although I think it would have been interesting to hear Ismael get into how he thinks the Office 2.0 apps might adjust to these form factors. He’s not to sure it sounds like that people will be using a smaller device with Office apps. I think he’s missing something here: If Office 2.0 apps are going to really take off they need to support many of the devices out there.

What about using an excel spreadsheet on an electronic whiteboard during a meeting? Or a student using a small notebook to drive a slide presentation in front of a class? What will the interaction be like. We’re going to need to start thinking about what these Rich Internet Applications (RIAs)–if any–will look like and what makes sense for different form factors.

Might we see optional browser UIs akin to those for mobile devices that people might elect to use when they have a device that goes beyond the keyboard? Or might the web 2.0 office apps bypass supporting these specialized capabilities because their market is too small?

I hope worst case that the former is the case. Right now we see some rather boring Office 2.0 apps online. They’re very menu and mouse biased. This works fine on a desktop or a notebook, but not everything is going to be that way.

Another area that the conversation didn’t get around to that I think would have been interesting is that of preventing data cilos in web 2.0 apps. Location transparency and portability would be a good thing.

As the news settles down about Microsoft-Yahoo-Google dealings, I can’t help but reflect on a few things. Namely, the fate of these companies–at least in the stock market–is almost always tied together. They’re independent companies, yes, but when one is impacted by something they either all trend up or down together. Just look what happened over the last six months or so with Google, Apple, and Microsoft stock. There are very similar patterns in all three. Yep, their fates are tied together–not strongly, but tied enough.

Think back to when the DOJ made its anti-trust ruling against Microsoft back a few years. Is it a coincidence that it wasn’t just Microsoft that got hurt in the stock market after the decision, but almost about everyone? Put another way, almost all the tech companies rode a wave up and almost all rode the same wave down.

Now not all of the companies perform exactly the same. That’s where the real money making comes in for the traders. They predict when Apple will outsell the bunch or when Yahoo will fade back from the pack. But there’s no denying that one can affect the others.

The other point I’d make is that all of this focus on shareholder value isn’t the healthiest thing to do. The only focus of a business is not to maximize the return for its owners. Never has been. Never will be. Show me a company that’s doing this and I’ll show you a company that’ll be gone in no time flat. It’s important to keep making money, yes, but it’s not the only thing and there are many, many legitimate things that a company may need to do which at any given time do not maximize the returns for its owners at that time. It’s the time period that’s so crucial to everyone. And that’s the key. That’s where the money’s made. When a handful of people maximize their returns relative to the others because they did or did not maximize their returns earlier. Put another way, owners don’t cash out at every chance they get. It doesn’t work that way. I can appreciate why there’s talk of “maximizing shareholder value,” but it’s implementation is quite nefarious. There’s no recipe–except for sell now and if everyone did that right this minute, there’d be a terrible collapse in all businesses. They’re all that connected.

Robert Scoble takes a Qik video of a couple people playing with a Microsoft Surface demo app.

When I look at something like this I see another twist on social computing–no not the multi-player game type, nor the Facebook type. No, I mean more than one person directly interacting with a computer device at a time.

In a trip to tech-central, the Silicon Valley, Josh Bancroft finally figured out why he doesn’t feel like he belongs there: He hates the technology industry–not the tech part, but the business part.

Believe me, Josh, there are all kinds. It’s not just about Gizmodo gadgeteers or bluetoothed business people. It’s not a single dimensioned spectrum.

Take me, for instance. I’m a tech enthusiast that you’d probably group on the business side of things because I thoroughly enjoy thinking about how technology and businesses go together. However, to me it’s all about building and seeing someone benefit from something I’ve worked on. How does the business part fit in? First and foremost I’m a builder. I love making things. It doesn’t matter what it is–digging ditches, writing software, building Robots–I just like making things. But I can’t just stop at creating something in the basement. Doing so would give it no value, would be of no use to anyone else. I have to share it with others; I have to see people use it and learn from how they view it. This is where the business part comes in. This is where communication is so central to the technology itself. You have to not only make something, you have to communicate it, you have to transport whatever it is to them. I’m enthralled by the whole package. It’s a single thing to me.

I’m a bit quirky, I know. Besides making things I get a kick out of looking at office buildings and office furniture (I really do!) or reading about how people created this or that, the decisions they made, why they made them, what worked, what didn’t, what people at the time thought about what they were doing. All of this is so fascinating to me.

Over the years I’ve gotten a kick out of people trying to label me one way or another. I’m too much an engineer, not enough of an engineer, too much a thinker, not enough of a thinker, too much business minded, not enough business minded, don’t have enough commercial experience, too experienced with old technologies, too focused on new technologies. Don’t fall asleep yet. I could go on, but I won’t.

You know what’s funny though? They’re all correct. I’m all of those things. It may sound strange, but that’s why I love the tech industry so much. It’s so vast that I can be all of these things giving myself room to learn more and do better.

At Computex ASUS was showing off a small “handwriting pad” that recognizes Chinese and English, numeric and sybmol characters. The external handwriting pad I imagine would make sense for Linux users where there’s no reco.

If more companies add handwriting recognition to their Linux distributions, Microsoft may need to free up its tight grip on its version of the technology–especially to facilitate its use in schools where price is often a big concern.

Today’s announcement by Qik that they will be supporting the iPhone trumps everything I heard from WWDC.

This is fantastic. No idea if this is WiFi only or if it supports 3G well too. A download will be available next week so jailbreaking is going to be required–at least for now.

I’m very curious to see how the chat works. Can’t wait to give it a try on my iPhone. I guess I now have reason enough to jailbreak my iPhone.

The very unfortunate thing here is that the video is going to suck the battery life out of the iPhone and unlike let’s say the Nokia N95 (which supports Qik), there’s no way to change the battery on the fly. I’m guessing we could run from a portable, external battery pack powering the iPhone via the USB/power connector.

FlixWagon, a competing service, interestingly announced today that it too will be supporting live broadcasting from the iPhone. Cool.

[Found via TechCrunch]

Those Apple Tablet rumors just won’t go away. Yesterday AppleInsider revives talk of a larger iPhone multi-touch device:

“Intel has been in the running to assert its Atom processors at heart of a larger iPhone-like Multi-Touch internet tablet that’s also under development at the Cupertino-based electronics maker, and was at one time believed to have sealed the deal.”

Well, if this device is based on an Atom processor, then it’s obvious why we haven’t seen anything from Apple yet: The MID-focused Atom processor isn’t shipping. So far Intel is only shipping or soon to be shipping in quantity the Diamondville version of the Atom processor, which is targetted to inexpensive notebooks rather than mobile Internet devices. The other version of the Atom processor/chipset which we believe is more geared towards MIDs and the like isn’t shipping yet and even at Computex no one seems to be saying when the Atom-based MIDs will be available.

Intel’s Sean Maloney suggests that with MIDs “there’s much more experimental design,” which is I guess part of an excuse why MIDs are taking longer to hit the shelf–like any Apple MID itself. Interestingly, Maloney continues, “By the end of this year, you will have seen a whole bunch of new MIDs coming out and we’ll see which ones are hits.” So whereas MIDs were originally thought to be on slate for a June launch, it sounds like things are still not ready.

It could be because of the designs themselves or maybe it’s because of Intel’s lagging supply of the Atom processors used in these devices. It makes sense that if there are no chips and Apple is going to use these chips in a forthcoming Tablet-like device, that Apple can’t release anything yet either. Or maybe in deference to Apple as it continues to work out its design issues, maybe Intel is holding back until Apple is ready. That would be odd, but I guess it wouldn’t be impossible to imagine. If true, then that would make Steve Jobs’ recent comments on the next version of OS X (which presumably would be the big brother to an embedded version running in a touch Tablet) a misdirection in that he says, “We’re going to hit the pause button on new features” and work on parallelism and “foundational issues”. It doesn’t take much to imagine that an Apple Tablet is going to need new features tuned to it. So if the Apple Tablet uses an embedded version of the OS, and the OS is on pause for adding new features, then my guess is the Apple Tablet is on pause too in terms of software. Then again, maybe the embedded OS has branched off from Snow Leopard. That would be odd, especially if handwriting recognition improvements are involved in any way–and those are currently aging and in the existing OS. So if they’re fixed for an iPhone and Tablet, they’d be put in the main OS X too. This is all conjecture. Complete guessing. Who knows.

Anyway, if Apple is going to use the Atom family in a Tablet/PDC/iPhone+, then we’re talking at least about later this summer for a launch–if there is a launch. It’s making sense why we didn’t see anything at the WWDC. Then again, maybe we didn’t see anything at WWDC and we won’t see anything later this summer or year, because the Apple Tablet is still an R&D effort and nothing more. Ah, the rumors.

This InfoWorld article makes it sound like Intel is going to take a wait and see attitude when it comes to marketing MIDs. InfoWorld suggests that at Computex this past week there were several hit, low-cost PCs using Intel’s forthcoming Atom processors, but there wasn’t the same thing for Atom-natural MIDs.

Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intel Sales and Marketing Group Sean Maloney takes a wait and see attitude with respect to MIDs, “”By the end of this year, you will have seen a whole bunch of new MIDs coming out and we’ll see which ones are hits.”

Excuse me. There already is a hit MID. It’s called the iPhone. And in terms of early adopter power users the Nokia N95 isn’t far behind. If Intel or anyone else is looking for permission to do a good job with a MID, they have it. The market has spoken. Now get to work and make it happen.

Maloney’s cautious words, which I can appreciate, are making me cringe. I smell another UMPC-scale disaster. And I’ll be totally bumbed if this is what happens, because I really want a larger device than an iPhone for my Internet browsing, videos, home remote control, and the like.

Why do we need MIDs when we can get a smartphone that’s similar? Yes, the MIDs will have many of the same features (great connectivity, diminutive dimensions, cost), but some key differences: They will have larger displays. They will have better browsing experiences (complete with Flash). They will have more open platforms.

Now here’s where it’s going to be hard for MIDs–outside of the OEMs dragging their feet and saying “Show me first”:

First, MIDs will be secondary devices. Why is this an issue? Connectivity. WiFi is OK for starters, but many MIDs will need 3G radios or similar. And I’m like more and more people that have multiple radio-based devices and the carriers don’t see to have good offerings for users like us. Why should I be paying as much for a second or third or fourth device as my primary phone? I shouldn’t. Intel is going to have to work with the carriers to solve this or if they won’t do it, Intel is going to have to subsidize the market and prove to the carriers that they should be working with customers that have multiple connected devices differently.

I see another looming problem with MIDs, like the UMPCs before them? Price. Remember when the UMPC was going to be only $500? Didn’t happen. Instead prices reached three times that. There’s no doubt about it, price has been a big problem when it comes to the small UMPC. Huge problem. And if Intel doesn’t work with manufacturers, in terms of incentives, hardware and software engineering support, and marketing, MIDs are going to be a failure. There’s no doubt in my mind that the manufacturers will not commit themselves fully. Look at the UMPC.

So here are a couple more suggestions I have for Intel if they wanting win:

1) Watch the convergence of cameras and connectivity.

There has to be good a camera built into these devices. Most UMPCs failed miserably here. MIDs are large enough to have cameras and lenses that knock the socks off most cell phones.

Further, Work with QIK (etc) to get video out of the box in these devices. One advantage the MIDs will have over the Nokia N95 or other cellphones running Qik is the larger screen size which will come in handy for interacting with chat. Yes, this means that there has to be a 3G/WiMAX or comparable radio on board. For those that don’t have radios that go beyond WiFi there’s still hope here, but the message should still be the same: You can broadcast live, record video, upload video, and we’ll help make it easy for you.

Think a live broadcasting video feature is too esoteric? Think again. Look at who’s doing it. 1) Early adopters, like the ones you want to be standing in line to buy your device. 2) Key communicators. You want the likes of Michael Arrington of TechCrunch or Robert Scoble of FastCompany to use your product for their videos. Why? Because they communicate with a large number of early adopters. Just look on Twitter to see how much impact each 140 character sentence they say can have.

2) You better get your content ducks in order. Out of the box there ought to be three month coupons for Skype or a video download service or Rhapsody or all three. MIDs need to have bundles. I’m not talking about icons that clutter the screen. I’m talking about services that people really want. If users don’t want them, they’ll never get in the way. That’s key. But there better be blow away bundles. The bigger, the better.

3) The browser better be real and tuned for these devices.

4) The software experience is as critical as the hardware. In particular, what OS to use? Intel is in a pickle here in large part because Microsoft doesn’t appear to be onboard with this. It’s a crying shame. Maybe all of this is stating the fact that it’s not time for MIDs yet–except for companies like Apple and Nokia. For everyone else they need to wait a couple of years. Again, I hope not. I think someone at Intel needs to spend a bit more time with a few people outside of their normal group. I think they’re going to miss the obvious.

No matter what the OS, work with developers. Provide loaners. Help give exposure for MID apps. If there’s multi-touch, work with developers to come up with creative multi-touch games and apps. If there’s an accelerometer do the same there. Same goes for GPS. Whatever you do, don’t think you can slap together a bunch of hardware and some existing apps. It’s not going to work that way.

Finally, I disagree 100% with Maloney’s view that the issue is going to come down to fashion. He’s reading the iPhone tea leaves incorrectly. Sure the Apple crowd crows over the design sense of the iPhone, but that’s the Apple mistique. You’re not going to win this game. Just do a good job when it comes to design, but don’t focus in that direction.

Anyway, I look forward to see which MIDs reach the market. I hope I’m not going to be as disappointed as Maloney makes it sound.

P-I columnist Bill Virgin takes offense at Steve Ballmer’s recent assertion that “There will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.” In response to this, Bill Virgin argues that if Microsoft is going to proclaim the end of print newspapers it’s fair game for him to proclaim the end of Microsoft: “By 2018, there will be no more Microsoft.”

This is silly. First, the two are quite different. Ballmer isn’t arguing that the SeattlePI or any other “print” media company can’t still exist, he’s just making the point that the distribution pipeline will change. That’s like predicting the replacement of 8 Track tapes with cassette tapes or CDs, etc, etc, etc. Because 8 Track tapes disappeared didn’t mean the record businesses dried up.

Also, I think anyone at Microsoft would agree that the Microsoft 10 years from now will be different from the one today. You could say the old one dies away or you could just say it’s part of an evolutionary cycle. Change is going to happen. It’s a good thing. Are you really satisfied with the way computers are today? I’m not.

For instance, 10 years from now, what if there are super lightweight inexpensive devices that fold out easily which you can use to read books, magazines and newspapers on? Doesn’t take much to predict that if such devices exist that Microsoft would be developing software for them and/or helping to push ads out to these devices. The SeattlePI could just as easily adapt to be a content provider on these devices and maybe also manage its own ads or leverage a service from others, including Microsoft and/or Google or some other third party. Both companies would have a role in a landscape such as this.

So whereas I disagree with Ballmer that in 10 years or so print will be gone, I think his general argument is correct: That the print world is moving digital, in large part because it is a more efficient medium for most content.

That being said, I think Ballmer missed an opportunity here: He should have presented his idea in the affirmative rather than the negative. A positive statement is much more inspiring. For example, he could have said with similar vigor, “At Microsoft we envision a future, not too far from now, where all media will be offered in electronic form over an IP network.” See how much better this sounds than the same sentement phrased with “no”s and “not”s? Sure, no matter how you put it, some people will be threatened by the potential change. However, most will nod in agreement although they may quibble about the time. I doubt Bill Virgin would have penned his column this way if Ballmer been made is statement the other way. Notice, too, how a positive statement like this is similar to one Microsoft used for many years, namely that they strived to get a PC in every home. Yep, positive wins.

People are realizing that the price drop for the new iPhone 3G isn’t quite a price drop when you factor in the price increase which AT&T is adding to the mix. MG Siegler over at VentureBeat says don’t worry. The price drop which is a price increase is a good thing, because most people won’t know the difference. Yeah, right. A good thing would be a lower price period. And believe me, people will know about it, just like they pretty much all heard about the launch of the iPhone itself. Word will spread. I do think, though, that most people will go along with the price higher or not.

I would add that I’m dissappointed that there wasn’t native video support for recording with the camera, for broadcasting live over the Internet (Qik style), or for viewing Flash videos in the browser. This is an even bigger deal than before considering the 3G radio. This is what 3G is good at.

If Apple was to provide these features along with the 3G radio I’d be sold. But they aren’t. So I’m on the fence as to whether I want to upgrade my iPhone or wait for another device that fits my needs better. Hmmm. So many choices.

Rob Zelt, Neil Roodyn and others from the community had a roundtable luncheon with Bill Gates last week at TechEd. Think about this: How many executives from any tech company you can think of set aside time like this to meet with members of the community? Not many.

Rob Zelt has the best write up at this time.

According to Rob, the main topic of conversation was about education including a bit about Tablet PCs.

It’s great to hear on both accounts.

Bill Gates has been the leading public advocate of Tablet PCs. Just look at his last five speeches listed on Microsoft’s Presspass:

From TechEd: “We’ve also got the pen capability that we’re taking to a whole new level in terms of easy recognition, and how that is implemented in the hardware. I think of every student having a device that avoids the need for paper textbooks. The tablet device will let them take notes, record audio, connect to the Internet. It will be superior in every way, and yet it can’t be purely keyboard based. It has to have this touch and pen as well.”

From advance08 The Future of Media: “So that idea of seeing will have that in many places — your desktop in your office, you’ll be able to have things displayed and just point and expand the information, your whiteboard will be an intelligent whiteboard and you can navigate through information there. So it’s pretty spectacular when you get what we call natural interface. Likewise, being able to talk to the computer, talk to your mobile phone and say what you want or have a tablet-like device that you can just take notes on and those notes can be recognized or searched, sent off to other people. That is the combination of incredible processing power together with software breakthroughs.”

Microsoft CEO Summit: “The early uses of this, besides Surface, include things like the touch on some of the phones, including Apple’s, it includes the pen on tablet computers that are very popular in verticals like medicine, and we expect to catch on with students who want to take notes or people who sit in meetings.”

2008 Government Leaders Forum Asia: “I’ve got one last thing to show, and I previewed this earlier, and that’s related to the student Tablet. To me this is an important milestone, and Microsoft has been investing in this for a long time. We see lots of ways that we’re going to drive this into the mainstream. In fact, my own daughter goes to a school where she uses a Tablet PC, and it’s phenomenal to see how comfortable she is, how she learns better. She tries out her knowledge, she communicates with her teacher in a new way. It is completely digital. The Internet is there, the ability to create things is there.”

Japan Premium Forum: “This will be important in the office and it will be important at home, so it will touch computing everywhere. You’ll see on your phone, of course, we’ll have touch and the pen as well. You’ll see on the portable computer we’ll have a tablet-like device that will have touch and that’s where the pen with the ink and ink recognition comes in.”

Five speeches. Five mentions of Tablets. If I went further through the list of speech transcripts, I imagine the trend would continue. That’s the way Bill Gates has been.

I also like the fact that Bill Gates spent so much talking about education. Oh, how I wish I could have listened in. Early on while developing for the Tablet PC I began to see how ideal a device like it might be for education. I’ve been working on some eWorkbooks (or activity books) for awhile that I think will offer a natural way for students to interact with their learning material. Cancer was a bit of hiccup along the way and now I’m racing to pay off bills like you can’t imagine, so my work has gotten more splintered, however, my goals have not. I can’t help but get inspired each time I think about how education can be improved with the right technology. The time is right. The devices are getting inexpensive enough, mobile enough, connected enough, and interactive enough. Now we need the software and content packaged well to leverage these devices.

I hope you don’t mind a little self-archiving here as I re-post some of my eWorkbook “applications” that I’ve been working on.

These include a variety of components ranging from crossword puzzles, clock problems, coin counting problems, math problems, matching problems, reading problems, word search problems, coloring surfaces, connect the dots problems, and so on that fit together nicely in an eWorkbook format. In addition, each component supports both handwriting and keyboard input as well as most importantly interactive feedback:

And here are a mix of algebra problems:

And an eBook that reads aloud for beginner readers:

As well as a personal diary eBook:

And a music composition eWorkbook:

Technology wise, they’re all written with WPF and XAML with portions ported to Silverlight.

As I look back over these screenshots I get goosebumps.

Is the era of Apple underpromising and over delivering dead?

When you think about it, the last couple major Apple events have held few if any surprises. I’d go as far as to say they were on the edge of being boring. Maybe it’s inevitable as Apple moves more towards the IT market–you know, as Apple becomes more like Microsoft. Does this make Apple more predictable and dare I say boring? During today’s keynote, for instance, during the partner demos I almost had the feeling I was watching Microsoft partner demos at TechEd. Was anyone inspired by any of it? I wasn’t.

And as Ben Patterson points out, there hasn’t been a “One More Thing” the last couple events. Kind of interesting compared to what it seemed like Apple was able to deliver in the early 2000s. To be fair, it’s hard to exceed expectations once let alone twice a year. Yep, Steve Jobs and Apple are mortal.

In fact, I think Apple’s been doing a fair bit of backpeddling the last couple events too. Take the iPhone SDK as an example. First the message was that the browser was the phone’s SDK and developers didn’t need more. Then Apple announced the iPhone SDK seemingly in response to all of the jailbreaking. Along the way Apple announced the single spot for purchasing or downloading iPhone apps, which it received further criticism for. And then today, it added a couple additional ways to distribute iPhone apps. Looks to me that Apple is maturing with its growth, providing more options for more customers and partners.

Of course, some of what might be going on here is timing plain and simple. If Apple wanted to release an Intel Atom based MID-like device, for instance, it could announce it but not ship it until around the Fall when the chips reach the market. Apple, I guess, could announce their forthcoming products, but since they are tied to Intel’s release dates like everyone else and considering that they are a secretive company, it might indicate that we watch for announcements around Intel product launch times.

So who knows, maybe there is One More Thing….it’s just that it’s not quite time yet. Stay tuned.

Despite all the tweets from the community, no Mac Tablet was announced at Apple’s WWDC event today.

I’m a bit surprised that Apple didn’t surprise us with a Tablet or more likely a smaller MID-like device. Wouldn’t a grown up iPod Touch or iPhone make sense? Bigger screen. Similar connectivity. Doubles as a reading device with content accessible through iTunes. Remote control and viewing of Apple TV content.

Maybe the rumors will come true some day, but the longer it takes, the more time we’ll all have to remember that Microsoft and its partners are the lead innovators when it comes to Tablet and Tablet-like technology.

Compare the handwriting recognition. Apple’s InkWell is so much the lagging technology–whether it came from the Newton or not. And touch? You think Apple’s in the lead here? Not exactly. Look at how much further Microsoft is taking multi-touch in the UI with its TouchWall and Surface initiatives. And then there’s the form factor itself. Who’s taking more innovative technology to the market? Apple? I think not. And what about education? And the arts? Shouldn’t computers be offering people even more than what you can type on a notebook or cell phone.

It disappoints me. I think Apple would make some awesome “Tablet” products.

Right now I’m kind of down over the lack of a Tablet announcement, but I look forward to the fall and the next Apple conference. Just think of all the Tablet rumors between now and then!