Can you cite other examples of Apple competing on price? Or being anything but 'high end' pricing.

Look at the Macbook Air - $1499. A tablet would be pretty much an Air but without the keyboard. I don't think it's likely therefore that the price would be too much different.

You're explaining why your opinion or guess or hunch or prediction or whatever you want to call it is likely to be correct. i don't dispute it, nor do I suggest I hold a different opinion.

However, I am suggesting that your opinion/hunch/prediction is unfounded. Meaning, it is speculative and not based on some specific factual evidence in hand.

For example, if you heard about the pricing from a buddy that is working on the apple.com web site you would be passing evidence along.

I'm not suggesting you shouldn't be speculating along these or any other lines. I just found it interesting that you would mention unfounded rumours in the same comment as sharing your own speculations about what Apple might or might not do.

The likelihood of Apple releasing a tablet, I'd say is low. But they could. Fair enough. I don't think they will, but that wasn't my point.

However, if they do release a tablet, there is absolutely no way on gods earth, they would ever make a competitively priced one. For a start, it'll cost more than the iPhone, or it simply won't make any sense. So we're up to the $500 mark already.

My point was, that even if Apple come out with a tablet tomorrow, it will definitely, categorically, not be in the same area as the crunchpad was planned to be - cheap.

I agree with your point, FWIW, and in fact I'm saving up for one :-)

You think Apple would just rip the lid, keyboard, and trackpad off an Air, throw a touchscreen on it, and call it a tablet?

What else is there to a tablet?

Of course they could go the other way - just make a really massive ipod touch.

I'd bet they don't release a tablet. It makes no sense to me.

There's nothing else to a tablet if you're one of the scores of computer makers that has already done exactly that (tearing off the lid, keyboard, and touchpad and put in a touchscreen).

For Apple, I don't know. They haven't invented it yet and I've learned that they can be more creative with years of product development time than I can be with a few minutes of writing comments. But they sure as hell won't release something that isn't significantly different in some way than what's been released before in the tablet space.

They are probably holding off more for software that makes a tablet make sense rather than just hardware. The hardware is a known quantity, but software for a tablet form factor has IMHO never really been worked out well.

Sure it might make a great piece of kit for an artist to take around, but how big of a market is that?

I'm thinking that a more innovative approach would be in order for it to really work.