What if there is no Apple tablet?

Folks, what if there is no Apple tablet announcement on January 26, 2010?

I know this goes counter to all the rumors that have been flying around, but we’ve been lead astray before.

In fact, there are exactly two times I’ve been dazzled by Apple over the years. Yeah only two. The original Macintosh and LaserWriter combination (I tried desperately to convince my friends to quit school and go off and write software for the combo, to no avail.) as well as the introduction of the iPhone. (Well, actually I was also amazed by the original Apple design and studied each aspect of it as I internalized each tradeoff between hardware and software. But this amazement was something I earned and didn’t come out of some announcement.)

No, more times than not I’ve actually been distracted by Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field and the over-zealous cheering of Apple employees in the audience.

This lack of awe at Apple announcements has been extra dissappointing to me since the launch of the iPhone. I guess I’ve been so enamered by the iPhone that I’ve just expected more.

But no, tweak here; tweak there. Unimpressed.

So here we are, many tablet rumors under our belts and with the glow of the iPhone still in our heads.

I’m wary of the fact that this combination can feed undeserved speculation and anticipation for an Apple tablet that might only be some mockup prototype and nothing close to a shipping product.

To be clear, I do expect an Apple tablet announcement on the 26th, but I’m trying to keep my expectations in check.

Like the Tablet PC for Bill Gates, this device, this thing, this software, this experience that Steve Jobs is going to launch upon the world, this may be Jobs’ most newsworthy hour, month, year, or decade.

Tablet or no, the 26th is going to generate a lot of talk.