Apple Tablet

Apple will never tell you what I'm about to tell you: The iconic iPad tablet will be cheaper next year. We're now just a couple of months away from the likely release of the iPad 3. The original iPad hit the market at price points between $499 and $829. The iPad 2 hit the market at the exact same price. Why should the third time be the charm? Because right now it's raining tablets.

Microsoft says the first tablets equipped with Windows 7 will hit stores this year. The so-called "slate" computing devices, launched in partnership with hardware companies such as Hewlett-Packard, will go on sale during this year's holiday season. Can they take market share away from Apple's iPad?

Who wouldn't want to be an early adopter, throwing down hundreds of dollars to be the first to own a new tech gadget such as the iPad or iPhone? You get to be the first person on the block to show off a new device while being dazzled yourself at all that it can do. It's kind of like Christmas...

I'm certainly not the first person to make this declarative statement, and I certainly won't be the last: I'm done with Microsoft Windows PCs. Done. Over. Once my current array of four Windows XP computers die, it's all Mac from that point forward.The awesomeness of the new iPad and another weekend...

Later today Apple will likely announce the company's latest creation, the Apple Tablet. This slate-like device is expected to be the cheapest portable Mac computer retailing in the $700-$1,000 range; a price that could go lower if another rumor, that you can purchase it with a contract from Verizon...

With speculation mounting that Apple is preparing to unveil a new tablet-style computer, the company invited reporters to come see its "latest creation" at an event in San Francisco next week. Meanwhile, a news report said Apple will release a 22-inch, touch-enabled, all-in-one PC in 2010.

What media-industry developments and market forces will make headlines in the year to come? Pay-to-read online content, tablet computers, mom-and-pop newsrooms and, oh yes -- banks taking over the magazine and newspaper game.

This holiday season's must-have gift is the electronic reader, and Amazon's (AMZN) optimism remains on high after reporting that Kindle sales in November were the "best" ever. But is the e-reader's time really now? Or will consumers make a choice that they'll bitterly regret in 12 months?

Although the Apple (AAPL) world is disappointed that the rumored announcement of an Apple Tablet computer didn't transpire at the company's press conference on September 9, virtually everyone watching the industry expects it to arrive within the next year, if not by the 2009 Christmas season. While...