Edible Apple

After meeting with Apple executives Greg Joswiak, Peter Oppenheimer, and Eddy Cue, Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzers presumably gained a better understanding of what products Apple has in store for consumers in 2010.

Though admittedly anti-climactic, Reitzers wrote in a recent note to investors that Apple has the following products coming up in the pipeline: iPods with video recording functionality, a tablet computer, an upgraded Apple TV, and interestingly enough, a low-end MacBook.

The reason why the low-end MacBook is so intriguing, if the report is indeed accurate, is because Apple’s tablet was presumably being positioned to fill the void and price gap underneath the current low-end MacBook.

Most reports have an Apple tablet launching sometime in 2010 at a price point somewhere in between $500-$700.  Currently, the cheapest MacBook sells for $999 – so if Apple is planning to release a low-end MacBook (let’s say for $700), then the Apple tablet gets a whole lot more intriguing because why would Apple release a tablet at or around the same price as a full featured MacBook unless the tablet had some extremely intriguing features that made it markedly different from a typical laptop computer.  While the rumored built-in 3G connectivity is definitely cool, there has to be something more to the tablet than just always-on Internet and a big iPod Touch-esque screen.

And so we wait…