What does Apple do next?

Some interesting conjecture around what it is that Apple will deliver next. The latest idea, or at least it is the idea that hasn't been delivered yet, is an Apple Tablet.

Big iPhone or keyboard-less slow MacBook? Who knows. It is hard to think that Apple would get it wrong though. As a Tablet user (Toshiba M750) I like the concept of the tablet, but there are limitations.

• I like having a large screen
• I get frustrated at having to flip the screen around
• I don't like having to reach over the keyboard, hold the screen still with one hand whilst writing on it with the other.

Yet there are so many benefits and opportunities with a Tablet. I don't know if it comes down purely to limitations of the underlying OS or the understanding of what the problem is, that is meant to be solved by a tablet. For me, I can take notes during consulting, and have an electronic white board when I am training/mentoring. It offers a more accurate control experience, as we are more used to holding a pen and 'pointing' at things than having a slight separation of controlling a mouse to guide an arrow around a screen. I certainly noticed a difference between mouse and stylus navigation and the ease in which I could focus on the task in hand with the latter approach.

So then I find an article which mentions an Apple patent for use of eye-tracking software to allow users to navigate and control a computing device.

Perhaps this will change the way we work. One can hope.