Aren't you putting an awful lot of qualifiers on that? After all, we already have pretty reliable information that it's going to be about 10" and most of the rest of that rant is just wishful thinking.
a) (re: an awful lot of qualifiers) not at all. It's the things that are why I'll be buying the eDGe in February.
b) None of them are wishful thinking. They're all confirmed features of the eDGe.
Maybe the eDGe is good enough for you, but obviously it's not good enough for everybody, otherwise everybody would have one.
Did I say "no one will buy the Apple if it doesn't have these things"? No.
Did I say "everyone will buy the eDGe because he does have them"? No.
The point your making is irrelevant. The Apple Tablet (if it ever stops being vaporware) has to have those things in order to capture MY purchasing dollars. That's all I said. Nothing more, nothing less. For the purposes of THAT statement, no other person on the planet matters. For the purposes of THAT statement, I don't give a rat's posterior about whether or not it's good enough for anyone but me.
To put it concisely, I am no longer waiting for Apple to release a device in this product space. I am, instead, going to buy an eDGe. It's not perfect, but it has enough of what I want that there's no point in waiting longer for something that Apple might never do. And the only thing that would stop me from enacting that plan ... is if Apple DOES release something before February, and it has all of those same capabilities and features as what I listed.
My statement isn't about anyone else. It's about me, eDGe, and Apple. Trying to conflate it with "but what if it's not good enough for some other person" is just you ignoring the actual statement and trying to wander off on some other topic that has nothing to do with what I said.
Vaporware? Who's vapor? Not Apple's Apple has never said they're working on such a device
Did I say that Apple did? no.
I made no claim about WHOSE vapor it is. Just that it is, right now, vaporware.
That doesn't mean I don't want one if the rumors turn out to be true, but why even try to set restrictions on something you're not sure about?
Why have standards about anything? Why have a device shopping list at all?
I'm not a fan boy. My shopping list does not consist of "Whatever Apple Sells, I buy". The things I buy have to meet my needs, not the other way around. I'm merely stating what that list of standards and requirements are, if Apple wants my dollars. Come February, if Apple doesn't have something that meets my list, I will have spent my "mid-range tablet fund" on something else. After February, it wont matter what Apple releases, because no matter how good it is, it will be too late.
For all you know, it could have all that and more.
And, if it does, including the part about timeliness of release, price range, etc., then I'll most likely buy it.
Conversely, it could be nothing but an oversized iPod Touch with nothing different on board.
Which wont meet my standards, and I wont buy it.
The second choice wouldn't bother me, but I expect when it comes out--if it comes out--that it will fall somewhere between an iPod Touch and a full MacBook in capability.
Of course. No one reasonably expects it to be at either of those poles of capability. I merely demand that it be more like a MacBook in capabilities than an iPod Touch. Starting with: Not being limited to Apple's Market as the only source of non-bundled local applications.
I expect that it will effectively blow away the so-called 'Netbook' market and create a new niche all its own
I expect that it will create a new niche all its own, yes. Blow away the netbook market? Doubtful. That's like all of the ignorant people who say "Apple doesn't need a netbook, they have the iPod Touch". I just shows that the person in question has no clue what a netbook entails.
Could it eat into the netbook market? Definitely. But, I haven't seen nor heard anything that would indicate that it completely fills in the features of a netbook (starting with a built-in physical keyboard), so there will likely still be a separate market for netbooks.
It's more likely that, given Kindle software, and media feeds from the desperate media houses, that it will dry up the current "wild west" atmosphere in the e-reader market. Once Apple has a 10" tablet, with Kindle software, and such, even with an LCD panel, it will raise the bar of entry into that market such that there wont be any _new_ entrants after Apple. Unless it's someone with very deep resources.
Same as the smartphone market, post iPhone.
The other people who should be scared of the Apple Tablet ... is Archos. The Archos 7 and 9 will stop being interesting products, in comparison.
But the netbook market is different enough, that I don't see it being "blown away" by an Apple Tablet.
maybe up against the almost-defunct "Crunchpad" as it's only competition.
The Crunchpad isn't the only thing in that space.
