When I first heard it was likely Apple would be producing a table, I thought, "I'd buy that." But with the likely high price, the persistent poor behavior on the part of Apple regarding the app store, and the inevitable tie to iTunes (which performs poorly under Windows and not at all on Linux), the obvious choice for me is the Always Innovating Touchbook.
From what I've read it is the best of both worlds: a touchpad and a netbook. For almost every apple tablet mockup image, there is a corresponding *real* image of an AI Touchbook. Plus, it runs Linux and is thus has a longer lifespan than something that runs Windows.
I hope the AI Touchbook becomes as successful as the netbooks!
i have been more or less expecting apple to attempt to move the iphone style gated environment onto the desktop ever since the app store opened.
think of it this way, take a imac, put a cortex under the hood, put a variation of the iphone os on it, tie it to itms and app store, complete with parental control tools, price it below the imac, and you have the perfect present for a worried parent to give to their kid(s).
over time, apple can then phase out osx on the non-pro products. and if they tie the appletv into the same ecosystem, they have a set top box ready to go.
