How much less than $1,000 does it need to be for folks here?

$1

LOL

"I'll buy that for a dollar!"

All depends on whether it's a Mac or an iPod.

Maybe I'll get one.

Right now, when I don't know what it does, it seems irresistible.

$600 big iPhone. Full screen readable comics. That's all I ask.

My choice would be $600 big iPhone.

A $600 big iPhone would be one of the things that would make me not buy it.

Ok, who am I kidding. I would anyway. But I wouldn't like it that much.

It's not going to be a Mac. You know this has to do with enfolding more products into the "captive" experience of iTunes. It will open the opportunity to sell more apps by direct download, and to "buy" print publications in the captive iStore type of environment.

It would defeat the whole purpose if it was just a sleek Mac. In its un-hacked form, it will be under the Iron Thumb of Steve.

All of that's just conjecture.

I know you mean Jobs, but it'd be funnier if it were my thumb.

No, I wouldn't want that, either.

I want something like what the iPhone was. The iPhone wasn't merely an iPod with phone capabilities.

Some details are leaking out in advance of today's announcement (1:00 PM EST).

Here's some things I've gathered (don't know if true or not):

-- more like a giant iPhone in the design. 10"

-- Will be on Verizon!! (huge plus for me).

-- $800 with contract, $1000 without.

I bet it's closer to $600 with the contract.

More importantly, I'll bet it's even less when September rolls out the second iteration and I start thinking about whether I seriously ask for one for Christmas.

Seems most likely to be a big iPod Touch, so not a full OS X system.
Eventually, probably, this WILL BE a Mac, but not for awhile yet. Low
powered input/output device for now. Probably has Good and Better
versions ranging $599 to $999.

I have no interest in cellular service. I have never owned a phone, and
don't see me having one for a long while. As video phone tech because
more and more commonplace, I will be able to compensate my bad
hearing by seeing the visual face gestures/lip movement, etc. like I do
in real life. So, at that point, I can SEE me getting a phone service.

But a WiFi/Bluetooth iPad/iSlate/iTablet/iWhatever in the $800 range
will appeal to me. And I haven't bought any Apple hardware goodies
since late 2006, so I'm due for one. We'll see. It goes against my
instincts to buy first generation. But, I'm a little hungry for something...

Content will be the key to success here. Steve will likely show some
really spiffy content on the stage, perhaps even a new format for storing
and creating said content. But very little content like this will exist for
quite awhile. Repackaging the old books, magazine, newspapers, Web
Sites, etc, really isn't going to cut it. Redefining content, and making it
easy for people to create such content WILL. So, if there's going to be
a killer app for this thing, it's got to be something like iMovie + iTunes
+ iDVD + GarageBand + iWork +iWeb combined.

What would you call something like that? iExperience?

The fact it's tied to a carrier just killed my enthusiasm for it. Did they not learn from the iPhone fiasco?

Sure. They learned that companies like AT&T would foot a lot of the expenses.

But yeah. If there's no carrier / iPod Touch-like option, then I'm not too interested.

You might want to wait until it's, you know, actually announced instead of going by heresay before making those kinds of declarations.

I know, I know, that sounds too much like level-headed common sense. Never mind.

It has to be tied to a carrier to have service. The question is whether it will only run on one carrier forever.

Almost all devices start on one carrier before coming out with a similar phone on another. The iPhone bucked this trend.

But if it's already the carrier I use (and the one with best coverage in my area), it's not a problem for me (even if I would advise non-exclusive on the carrier).