On Wednesday (January 27, 2010) Apple® is expected to unveil a new product. Rumors are circulating on the Internet that describes it as everything from a piece of the Allspark™, to a cure for lupus, although nobody is quite certain as to what it will be.

Like millions of others, we’ve donned our dry-cleaned turtlenecks and followed the rumors with keen interest to see what the next new thing from Apple will be. Even though we do not describe ourselves as an “Apple” or a “PC”, since we tend to do a good mix of both, we are excited about a new platform for development. We’re hedging our guesses that it will be a new tablet design, which we are calling iSlate.

Since there are lots of rumors, with virtually nothing confirmed, we’re basing our hopes off of many of the more likely and more exciting possibilities of the iSlate.

#1 Multitouch

Although nothing is known about the iSlate, multitouch capability seems like a freebee and it is extremely unlikely that any tablet would be released without it. Nevertheless, we are still excited about multitouch because it increases usability and user experience ten-fold. Multitouch interfaces are also the transitional step to fully natural user interfaces (NUI) that recognize gestures without the need for input devices, such as a mouse or keyboard.

Multitouch is the future of user interfaces for consumer devices and something that we are excited to develop. Amadeus Consulting is already developing user applications for the Microsoft Surface™ and iPhone™, both of which use only user gestures and object recognition for input.

#2 OS 3.2

The iPhone currently runs on OS 3.1.2. If the iSlate runs on a modified or scaled-up version of OS 3.1 (we’re calling it OS 3.2), then the iSlate will be compatible with all current iPhone applications and will be able to download apps from Apple’s App Store.

This is a huge bonus to developers, as they will not have to start over to develop apps for the iSlate (it runs off of the iPhone SDK) and to consumers who will be able to access the App Store to find inexpensive or free apps for the iSlate.

Also, this means that businesses that have invested in app development will be able to reach an even larger audience and receive a greater ROI for their investment in Apple app development. For example, retail stores that have invested in an app for the iPhone will be able to offer the same app to owners of the new Apple tablet, which is expected to sell up to 35 million units in 2010 (if rumors are true). Bundle that with number of iPhones sold to date (~40 million) and any app has the potential to reach a huge number of potential customers.

#3 It’s a Giant iPhone!

We’ve been jokingly calling it the Mark McGuire of iPhones (e.g. The iPhone on Steroids), which may not actually be a bad thing. Most people seem to think of a giant iPhone as a throwback to the early 1990s 12-pound cellular phones, which were unwieldy and hardly a convenience. However, we are actually pretty excited about the possibility.

To clarify, we don’t expect anyone to actually use them like they would a traditional phone, but being able to use existing 3G networks to access the internet, instead of using only Wi-Fi, would be incredibly convenient. You would not need to visit your local coffee shop in order to check your e-mail, and since tablets are so portable, you could catch up on the news from anywhere.

Also, it means that you can read the online version of the New York Times without having to squint. A “giant” 10-inch display would make viewing video and reading your favorite e-book a little less painful on your eyes. This gives customers a vast amount of power and connectivity in such a little device.

#4 More Power!

One of the downfalls of smart phones is their lack of processing power. Well, on second thought, it is that we tend to push them to their maximum capacity, and insist on increasing the abilities of these tiny devices. We are excited by the new 1GHz+ Snapdragon processors by Qualcomm, which are being employed in some of the newest smart phones, including HTC’s Nexus One. Still, for everything we try to use our phones for, 1 GHz may not be enough.

The new Apple Tablet may help solve this. It is said, by “people who know people who know”, that it may have up to a 2.2GHz processor, which will be more than enough for streaming video, running Flash applications, games, and doing almost anything that your desktop currently does. Sitting in bed streaming the latest episode of 24 on Hulu would be much more comfortable with a tablet than it would with even a laptop.

It also means that we can develop extremely powerful applications that could be used for advanced inventory control, ecommerce, retail, or maintenance applications could greatly increase efficiency. Not to mention the improvement of end-user applications.

#5 Web Cam!

We’d at least like a high quality (at least 5 megapixels, and video enabled) integrated camera. Why?  Web chatting of course!  And for the ability to do high quality object recognition, including motion and facial recognition. Not only is this cool for coolness sake, but also for some very practical applications, although it is hard to say that anything is amazingly new, since laptops can cover for most of these features. But tablets are just a little bit more convenient, with better integrated software and hardware, better portability and a more intuitive interface.

A camera and video capabilities on a tablet is like having a phone built in. Nobody would use them exactly as you would a camera, but being able to use object recognition, facial recognition, or motion detection is a powerful feature. For example, imagine a hearing-impaired user placing the tablet on the counter and signing to the receptionist on the other side as the tablet translates the gesture into audio, eliminating the need for written instructions.

Or simply to be able to web chat with friends while riding on the bus, or on-the-spot video editing before uploading your latest video to YouTube.

In Conclusion…

Yes, we know these are all based on rumors. It might not be called iSlate, and Wednesday’s event might not even unveil any sort of tablet design. Nevertheless, we at Amadeus Consulting are still excited about the possibilities. Our mantra of “everything is possible,” keeps us on the cutting-edge and expecting the unexpected in software development.

Even though we have not seen all of the rumored features in one place before, we have a wealth of experience developing custom software solutions involving each of these features. And we are anxious for the opportunity to put them together into the newest platform, and create a rich experience for our clients and their customers.

Every Apple Store I go to I will be doing a dance off. This is the first of many. Make sure you rate and share with everyone. Song in video: www.youtube.com Blogspot: www.FunkTheWorld.com Twitter www.twitter.com Channels www.youtube.com www.youtube.com (idea came from ijustine apple store dances)