Time for my personal opinion: I think $1000 is too much for such a device. You can buy a complete and much more powerful computer system for that money. The question that keeps sticking in my mind is: why would I need a tablet device (besides the fact that I probably need one for my website)? In my opinion the tablet must be powerful enough that it can replace a laptop.

Apple really has to come up with some very good stuff to persuade people to buy the tablet computer. I don’t necessarily want to read e-books on such a device, so it’s not a big deal for me if that’s not integrated. But I would like to have 3G so I can choose to buy a data plan with it. I really like the fact that I have internet on my iPhone 3GS where ever I am and it would be handy to be able to surf on the web on a larger screen.

I don’t live in America so I am not familiar with AT&T services, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not the best. I definitely understand people don’t want to buy a device that’s connected to a bad service like AT&T. So if people have a choice to buy the device from Verizon and other mobile services as well, it would definitely be a big pro.

Another thing I have to agree with is a long battery life. I think that’s one of the things that could actually persuade people to buy the Apple tablet. Apple’s MacBooks are great and part of their success, I think, is the fact their batteries last almost 8 hours with a single charge. If the tablet computer lasts much longer, than that could mean instant buy.

I think Apple has to come up with some pretty good stuff. A long battery life, 3G connectivity and e-books won’t be enough. I will only buy the device if the App Store is integrated. The facial recognition also sounds awesome and you have to be able to watch videos, listen to music, play games, surf on the internet, and do your homework on it as well. If the tablet offers all that, than Apple has persuaded me.

How much are you willing to pay for the upcoming tablet device?

Retrevo.com did a survey of 753 customers and found that 64 percent of PC users (who are accustomed to low-cost machines) are willing to pay less than $600. What about the Mac users? About 27% would pay between $600 and $800 and about 41% is would pay more than $800. These statistics are probably looking very good in the eyes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. People are willing to pay for something they haven’t even seen yet.

The Gadgetology survey concludes that the company said the iPhone has become successful with people not familiar with the Mac market. The Apple tablet must do the same. In the same study it says that people planning to buy a netbook will probably also be interested in buying the touchscreen device.

“Apple had better hurry up if they want to capture any of the netbook market because many consumers, both Mac and PC owners, have already bought a netbook and many more plan on buying one soon.”

There are a couple more numbers about Mac users and PC users. Turns out that 37 percent of the Mac users against 36 percent of the PC users plans to buy a netbook within the next year. And 40 percent of the iPhone users are saving their money on a netbook purchase.

Source: Retrevo