Podcast: Can Apple make the tablet PC cool?

Apple's rumored tablet is just the latest incarnation of the form factor. In fact, the tech industry has been pushing tablet PCs forever with little success. The big question we address in this podcast: Can Apple make tablets cool?

We---Jason Hiner, Sam Diaz and I---were a bit mixed on the prospects, but agreed that if any company has the marketing mojo to make a tablet work it's Apple.

You can play this 19-minute episode from the Flash-based player at the top of the page or you can download the MP3 file. Later this month we'll also be launching the podcast in iTunes and the Zune Marketplace.

Stories discussed in this episode:

• A history of the elusive Apple tablet, in links (TechRepublic)
• Can Apple make a Tablet PC "cool"? (ZDNet)
• Apple's tablet UI patent unearthed (ZDNet)
• Newton engineer returns to his Apple roots (ZDNet)
• iTablet redux, more details trickle out (ZDNet)
• Tim Cook calls netbook hardware 'junky' (ZDNet)
• 10 reasons why e-readers make sense in the enterprise (TechRepublic)