So a docking station for a tablet makes sense (effectively changing the form factor back to something more traditional). Holding the thing with one hand while typing with the other really doesn't so much. I think that's ok, the context dictates how you use the device.

Apple didn't stop making Macbooks for a reason:)

I'm not considering the fact that you can plug a tablet into a hardware keyboard because if I had a tablet I certainly wouldn't want to carry a keyboard round with me just in case.

I'd rather just carry my laptop around for content creation, and use a combination of my laptop and mobile phone for content consumption.

However, this all depends on the size of the tablet. If it was laptop sized (with Fn keys to allow for slightly smaller size even), I'd probably take the keyboard over Swype, but it would really depend on where I was typing. Swype is designed to be used one handed, and would be perfect for when you can't just set your tablet down. If the keyboard would be netbook sized, I might actually take Swype over it most all of the time.

For example, a docking station in the form of a monitor stand which turns a tablet into a monitor for a traditional mouse & keyboard. Or, laptop/netbook form factors with attached keyboards (this is not a new form factor, there are already touch screen tablets of this sort).

What makes the new generation of tablets novel is not merely their particular physical characteristics today, it's the method of interaction, the simplicity of the interface, and the simplified and streamlined methods for managing applications. All of those things will still be relevant if you add a mouse and keyboard.

Did you use it to type this comment?

While effective (indeed there are jobs i am hard pressed to imagine another model) this work environment is long in the tooth, and shows significant strain in knowledge and creative workplaces.

The current batch of smartphones, and pad computing had a profound effect on my life, and on the life of everybody I know who uses them, the lines between work and pleasure are blurring, you can only imagine when hi-res kinect like interfaces will be integrated into them. whats more, IT managers (myself included) are easing control over these systems, permit them and encourage them, it is cautious, but it will be a sea change.

Small "enterprise" apps, that do simpler tasks, might become more and more prevalent, The disparity between the desktop environment and pad for some tasks (like reading for instance) is getting bigger, and makes the older one seem outdated. The coming workforce shouldn't be expected to perform to the best of its abilities with outdated tools, or stay in their chair all the time for that matter.

There are many clouds I personally see in this horizon, DRM for one, the disappearance of material from a cloud resource (ala wikileaks) without any due process another. But for me, especially in the US, and here in NY, where the last mile everywhere is owned by Verizon, bandwidth, its cost, and control over it, is the biggest concern, these technologies are stymied by the draconian control of Telco's.

We are on the verge of another giant leap in computing, this one, apart from new usability paradigms differs from the previous PC revolution on its reliance on connectivity and bandwidth, without them, the devices are a poor experience.

Something got to give, Telco's cannot be allowed to control this future.

A quote from Steve Jobs comes to mind. "I think PCs are going to be like trucks. And this is going to make some people uneasy."

This competition between Apple & Google will bring forward an environment that is bring about a lot of opportunities.

Yes, Jobs has been predicting the death of the Windows PC (when he says "PC", he really means "Windows PC". He is offended if you call the computers he creates "PC's") for a while.

He's not very often wrong, but it's one of these few times.

Apple does the whole "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" thing, but where have you ever seen Jobs personally try to assert that Macs are not PCs?

Apple has the flash (no pun intended) and user interface.

Google has the platform and infrastructure.

It seems like a very different set of cultures, and it's not as if the stock-holders are revolting (no pun intended).

Personally I'd prefer some good healthy competition in mobile/tablets/HTML5 - as we saw what happened to the browser when left to one dominant player...

On the other hand, if Google were to have the only browser on the market, they have incentives to keep improving it.

Not that I'm advocating a one-player browser market with Google at the helm. I'm just stating that the goals matter. Having a single dominant player isn't necessarily the death of innovation, so long as they have incentives to keep innovating.