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In a brief comment regarding the Apple tablet, Daring Fireball's John Gruber, notes that his sources have indicated that the device will not include a camera.
And, for what it's worth, I'm hearing there is no camera, webcam or otherwise, on The Tablet.
The much-followed Gruber has several times in the past offered accurate information on forthcoming Apple products, most recently correctly revealing Apple's October product unveilings (with the exception of his "wildcard" multi-touch trackpad gadget claim) the evening before their release.

Little more than speculation has suggested that Apple's tablet will include a digital camera, with such rumors sparked in early April with a report that Apple had ordered both 3.2- and 5-megapixel camera sensors, with the former slated for what became the iPhone 3GS and the latter for a product scheduled for introduction later in 2009.

Sources were also fairly quiet about whether the tablet would offer a webcam until relatively recently, when claims began to increase. The earliest widespread claim of a webcam appears to have been in mid-August with reports that Apple would offer two models, with and without webcam. Webcam speculation increased significantly yesterday after France Telecom executive Stéphane Richard appeared to offer some confirmation of a forthcoming tablet release including a webcam option for videoconferencing, although company representatives quickly clarified that Richard's comments had been misconstrued.

Article Link: John Gruber: No Camera on Apple Tablet
 
A camera on a tablet would just make the tablet even more stupid. It's already trying to be an iPhone and a Macbook.
 
Yeah, if the device is mainly media consumption, I don't know that a camera is imperative.
 
I don't know about anyone else, but I not only want a camera on my tablet, but it better be at least 5 MP. 😉 haha
 
fast forward to 6 months...

GOSH! why doesn't this thing have a camera?!?! my phone from the 90's had a CAMERA!

apple adds a camera.
 
There is a webcam!

I know it!

A camera might not make much sense, but a webcam does.
Of course we were saying the same thing about a front facing camera on the iPhone and you know where that ended up.
 
why are people so adamant about there being a camera?

are you going to take a photo or shoot video with a 10" device?

is it really an ideal situation to have a videoconference where you have to hold the device in front of you?
 
I did not see how a camera could work on a machine that will be laying flat on a desk anyway.
There are way too many cameras on things already.
Need to web conference then plug one in...pretty simple.
 
The second product with the 3.2 meg camera is the touch, right? And that's where a camera belongs, not on your new iSlate/magazine++ viewer. Different niches.

These are the guys who removed serial ports and then decided the mezzanine slot was costing them too much money on the first iMac. If it costs a buck or two to add a camera, why do it when it'll sell just as well in its first version without? If you want to, add a camera later (nano, touch) to boost sales without having to be particularly innovative.
 
With the exception of the iphone, most product launches disappoint in one or more ways.
You can get it now or wait for it to have what you want. The problem is that you end up making sacrifices for Apple and you end up waiting. There's a lot of waiting involved.
 
What the problem is

I'll be disappointed. I'd like to have the option to use this device for video conferencing. Boooo.

I think Apple's problem is iChat, which is, I have to say, a huge flop. If they bought Skype, video chat would be theirs. But iChat -- although it can put you underwater, or chat among multiple friends -- is a huge bandwidth hog, and thus only works in broadband heaven.
 
I think that the camera is going to be pretty wide angle and have person-tracking software like many other webcams.

This of course supporting the iSlate having a kick-stand theory.
 
Dan Lyons Apparently Thinks Yours Truly Hasn’t Heard About the Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs That Apple Is Set to Release Tomorrow Morning

Gruber didn't believe that the "mousepad" was real...so I won't count that one against him.

I guess no webcam then. 🙁
 
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