Intel Corp (INTC)

[fastpathguru]

I think the expectation for tablets is that they are a smaller form factor relative to the other netbooks.

IMHO the tablet form factor is about focusing on a "pure" client or "information consumer" experience, not so much simply being compact. Very much an "electronic magazine" for casual use.

Re: keyboards; Removing it isn't so much for cutting size as much as cutting fat for it's specialized role. A virtual keyboard is as acceptable as a numeric keypad is for whipping off quick IMs/tweets/emails/etc. (And there's always bluetooth keyboards...)

Like a magazine, 8.5x11" is a widely accepted aesthetic, and you'll see later generations of tablets pushing up the screen size and attempting to squeeze the bezel out of the device, towards the ideal of an "interactive sheet of paper."

Anything smaller will be a trade-off for A) portability or B) some form of specialized display akin to a mini-notepad or postit-note.

Predictions:

A) Laptops will evolve towards the tablet ff, with the guts shifting from the keyboard side to the display side, and the keyboard becoming increasingly detachable/optional.

B) This will continue until the next big revolution, which is the ditching of the "traditional" display altogether, allowing the computer guts to be packaged in a wallet-like ff, and enabling a new universe of truly useful augmented reality applications... Likely with the ~2013 introduction of Apple "iGlasses".

fpg