What will Apple's Tablet truly be?

So with one of the biggest moments in emerging media technologies about to descend upon us tomorrow, I felt the need to throw down an Emeril-like "Bam!" and resurrect this blog from the likes of Chumbawumba.

As you know by now, there's been lots of build-up to an Apple tablet unveiling tomorrow. While so much debate has surrounded the O/S, the hardware or the look of this shadowy device, I've always been pre-occupied with the rumored name. No single company puts more (or less, depending on your perspective) into a name than Apple. Think about it. iPhone. iPod. MacBook. Nano. Steve Jobs. The two syllable theme has become as much an Apple trademark as their indispensable lowercase "i". It's all about simplicity blended with sophistication...simple words with so much meaning and technology hiding behind them.

The reason why I feel the name is so important is because it will give us a better long-term glimpse into what this tablet will be than any firework show they can put on tomorrow. Tomorrow, it's about the bells and whistles, the horsepower, the "ahhhhhhh" factor. But the name...that is where the plan lies. Will this be a device tailored for interaction...an iPad, iSlate, even an iCanvas? Or will it be more suited for media usage, such as an iTablet, iRead or MacBook Lite?

The most curious aspect of the tablet is the fact that its predecessors have for the most part, been failures. Clearly, Apple has found a crack...a niche between current smarpthone, netbook, Kindle and laptop technologies that makes tablet a viable device for a potentially large audiences in today's world. In my mind, I see the tablet, taking cues from the Kindle, being a media hub for all of your favorite websites, books, magazines, music and movies, complete with the iTunes store (apps included). Added features, such as video (Skype) conferencing, streaming Netflix abilities, desktop syncing/streaming, online gaming and a separate app store might vastly expand its prospective audience and abilities. No way could I ever begin to guess with any accuracy what Steve Jobs is capable of... but I have no doubt I'll be surprised tomorrow.

For what it's worth, my prediction is that the tablet will be called the iSlate, it will cost $500-$700, it will use an updated iPhone O/S 3.2 and will be available on both Verizon and AT&T. It will sync/dock with your computer and be it's "streaming remote" while you are out and about. It will be a media device first, and about 1,000 things second. It will succeed....but it will not live up to expectations. Those are my thoughts, and I'm sticking with them :-) Curious to hear what others think!