The reason that they are probably going to announce a tablet pc is because it’s been rumoured since Steve Jobs had hair and we’ve had so-called “leaks” of information suggesting they will do so. Despite the rumour persistence and it’s prior lack of grounding, the explosion of tablets, slates or any variation on that title suggests that now they want to get in on it. Tech websites have been inundated with “leaks” of details on the gadget, as well as (quite ironically) a leaked e-mail about their procedure in leaking details to titillate the geek proletarians. Furthermore, the exponential growth of the Malus-domestica empire (thank you Wikipedia) means that they won’t want to let a market open up without their input, letting another company build up the dominance that they have in the smartphone market in a, albeit delicious, rotation of bureau, wherein they now have to struggle to overthrow the tablet King.

However, for the purpose of merely playing the atheist-devil’s advocate, this is why they might not announce a tablet. Firstly, such a device will be nearly indistinguishable from an iPhone and, unless they find some sort of amazing new feature, they needn’t bother. Secondly, Apple have a habit of letting a new market settle down, look at the problems that the current devices have and then pull out a trump card. Before the iPhone, Windows Mobile owned the market and there was almost no alternative – now every Thomas, William and Harrison company has some OS or device out, ever since Apple started it off; yet none of them have usurped the leader of the crusade, who did very well first time. The leaks could easily be a way to throw people off the scent of their latest gadget, it seems very odd that Apple would enter a market this quickly, let alone with a brand new gadget. Rather than bringing out a Flip-killer, they stuck a camera on the iPod Nano. Rather than bringing out a games console, they promoted the iPod Touch more as a gaming device than a music player. History has shown that Apple usually has to ridiculously confident in their new product to release it as a whole new gadget rather than piggyback it on something they’ve already bought out. I think it’s reasonable to assume that they’re not simply gluing something new onto something old this time, due simply to the hype instead of waiting until MacWorld of WWDC as usual.

Now, it’s clear that Apple have worked up enough media hype that they have to follow through with something truly groundbreaking come January 27th. Whether or not Apple will manage to follow through remains to be seen, but past experience tells me they probably will. If it IS a tablet, then it has to be something truly remarkable to tell it apart from simply a fat iPhone, or any other Tablet PC announced last week, but if it isn’t then it has to be some equally, if not more, astounding to live up to the hype that they’ve created. Either way, this should be fun to watch!

Frankly, I’m still anticipating a new line of “Apple Toasters”.