XML and XHTML offer publishers the opportunity to add interactivity and diagrams that can be much more effective. Not to mention all the social networking and collaboration that can be done electronically. University specific course material that could be published to such a device.

I see some universities offering tablets with tuition like some have done with the ipod touch, if apple gives them tools to develop material. A tool like that for itunes new album format would allow for interactive course material.

Unfortunately E-ink is a long way from being able to provide what is needed for such a device. Some readability compromises will have to be made. There is no reason that Apples tablet should not be able to read the material to you though. E-ink devices for the short term will be for those who want to read novels an little else. Those looking for immersive and interactive learning or media experience will be looking for a device like the rumored Apple tablet .

I have no problem taking notes with a pen and pencil. An application where I can digitally take and flip through pages of notes (like a spiral notebook) would be incredible. I’d never have to buy paper again, lead, or erasers for a mechanical pencils. Depending on what you buy, a professional pack of pencils can be ten to fifteen bucks, with erasers and lead costing five or so.

Digital textbooks would be a plus. I could add digital stick notes to pages, digitally highlight text, and if I could even edit the text itself (with changes being made to an alternate file, so I could retain “defaults” for that textbook), that’d be great. The only problem being I couldn’t get any money back out of my invest (I can’t sell a digital textbook since it’d probably be DRM’d).

Now imagine putting one of these in the hands of a teacher. The teacher could sync with your device, or perhaps an entire class at the same time, pull down your homework, and you wouldn’t even have to be arsed with going to Blackboard, Moodle, or even email to upload your assignments. Heck, make this process automated and you have a winning device. Then, let’s take this one step further. Say you’re doing a math problem. As you write your problem, your math teacher could interlude on your screen, and in perhaps red text, give you pointers on how you should solve the problem.

At the end of a class, digital copies the days notes could automatically be uploaded to each student, with the device retaining an audio copy of the class it recorded during your session. While studying, students could share notes in the cloud, so classmates can study and ensure they didn’t miss any material. I currently do something similar by having dropbox set up between me and classmates (but it’s not a perfect system).

Make the tablet a gradebook. I don’t want to have to log online to check my grade. Gimme an App where I can get a consolidated list of all my grades, and if a semester is finished, that semester’s GPA. Heck, even display the degrees, certificates, scholarships, and anything else I’ve earned along the way.

Throw in your casual calender, mail, and internet browsing apps, and you’d have a dream tablet. Boom.

The trick is how to position it between a laptop and a netbook? I think it can be done by having better battery life, weight and price than a regular laptop. Better user experience (software/apps) and dare I say performance, than a netbook at a similar price point.

Normally I’d agree with you, but that’s the beauty of positioning yourself in the education market. Students are already used to spending $1000 or so on a computer and hundreds of dollars each semester on books. If you can offer them a computing device that also doubles as a way to buy and access all of their class materials at a discount I think you could easily sell an iTablet for $700-800.

Also, how uncomfortable will it be to type onto something laying flat on the table?