The computing tablet revolution ... Doomed?

If industry rumors prove true, Apple and maybe other computer companies will launch next year a new class of computer known as a computing tablet that will provide a portable computing device that splits the difference between a laptop Mac and an iPhone. The device will likely be controlled by a pencil-shaped stylus that can be used to input commands and to scribble digital notes that can be stored and retrieved.

The tablet will no doubt offer Wi-Fi connectivity and easy high-speed Web access anywhere there is a wireless network. It will likely offer excellent access to a wide assortment of content, but unless it finally delivers on the promise of voice recognition, it will be hindered by its lack of a keyboard.

The lack of a keyboard is the main reason most industry analysts predict the device will be a commercial failure. They reason that other tablet devices have also died inglorious deaths, victims of a clumsy interface that forces users to scribble cryptic digital notes when most would greatly prefer the efficiencies of a keyboard and a mouse. Most think the device would offer users the worst of both worlds: They would lack the keyboard of a MacBook Pro and they would lack the portability of an iPhone.

In dismissing the new tablet the analysts disregard the growing success if Skype and other Web-based communication providers. They also overlook the expertise of Apple in designing seamless videoconferencing interfaces. The new tablet might offer the ultimate communication device, a portable teleconferencing machine you can take anywhere, using it to easily conduct video-chats with mom in Albuquerque and your boss in Seattle—all without the need to awkwardly cradle a laptop device.

If Apple or other tablet developers play their cards correctly, they will market the device not as a computing iTablet, but as an iConferencing device that allows users to send and receive video calls without requiring them to squint at a tiny iPhone screen or cradle an awkward computer. Used that way it neatly bridges a gap not yet filled.

If they do it right they will integrate handles into the device that allow users to easily orient it for best effect, aiming it at themselves or whatever they are trying to exhibit. Have you ever used a laptop to show friends or families the results of home remodeling? If so, you know how awkward a laptop can be. The tablet could overcome these shortcomings, providing a portable video camera used to beam full-screen images around the globe.

Additionally, look for the device to offer the benefits of easy access to books, magazines and television programming, capitalizing on a proven market being pioneered by Amazon’s Kindle tablet for downloading print content.

Used in these ways, the new generation of tablets will invent a new niche, creating new users and uses.

The true computing tablet revolution may well be upon is. And this time, if done correctly, I predict it will succeed.