Have you read these threads? It reads like people justifying to themselves the reasons for buying this device. Some of them have referred to it as a toy or something you use while you're in the kitchen. The truth is there are many people here who are Apple nuts.
The Hummer & 3D TVs replaced something that people already had. The tablet/slate whatever doesn't do that. Does it replace newspapers & magazines? Yes, but from what I understand, these were industries on the verge of collapsing. For this device to make this business successful again it would mean consumers are buying it because of the device and not the content since they weren't purchasing the content to begin with. If that is the case, is it replacing anything significant in your life for $1000?
The questions you ask me are all answered by my and other posts in the threads I refer to.
But to indulge you, I say again:
in order to succeed this tablet needs to be new on different fronts and address multiple needs. A single focus on e-reading or movie watching or gaming will not work.
The iPhone is successful because it was new or one of the first in a number of ways: touchscreen, useable MP3 and Movie player, Web browser etc etc.. It changed, renewed or innovated several existing functions and merged these into a device that worked and was easy on the eyes. It was with many of these functions definitely not the first, but it delivered them the best compared to the competition.
This tablet thing doesn't need to replace anything (although I guess most iPhone users also owned cellphones before that, but I know that that's a slightly different situation) if it can pull people from other markets by addressing a need they have and coincidentally provide other great features and functions.
Most people on this forum talk about the tablet like this: "it will only work if it can do office and/or photoshop", "it won't work as an e-reader" and "you need a hardware keyboard to do lots of input". Try to think a little bit out of the box, extrapolate what Apple has now in terms of hardware and software, and I think we can have a pretty clear picture of what is going to happen.
Sure this tablet will not pull Photoshop and Office professionals away from their MBP's and Mac Pro's and iMacs and I definitely don't think it will replace any of these products. Since Apple's computing market share is still quite small, I'm sure they won't worry about the loss in sales from the crowd that wouldn't buy it because they already have an MBP or other product.
I'm not going to reiterate all the reasons why this could work, but judging from the hype here, on Engadget, Gizmodo and even in newspapers here in The Netherlands there is definitely a market for these kinds of things. Maybe it's not you, Eidorian, Cmaier or many other skeptics here, but apparently it's a whole lot of other people.
I for one will see what is going to be released. I will quietly be sad, but also amused when January goes by and we will only see updated laptops. But if it gets released and it tickles my fancy than I will buy it. If it is an iPod Touch with a 10" screen and no further innovations that I will wait for someone else to do it better.
And regarding your first comment above: are you surprised that there are people here who are nuts about Apple products? This is an Apple forum. In addition these threads are about speculating what the fantom tablet can do. Let each do it in the way that they like. And what qualifies you to dismiss their ideas or reasons for buying a device?
And this regarding Hummers: how is that different from this situation? Many people bought a Hummer new, as a replacement for or additional to their normal work-home commute car. Most Hummers on the streets today are not used for what they are built: transporting through rough terrain as opposed to transporting toddlers to mommy-gym. I can see the same logic translate quite well to a tablet: many people will buy it since they don't own a computer or similar device, some will buy it additional to their other computer, and some will buy it as a replacement.
