On Tuesday, October 14th, Apple Inc. will be introducing a renewed Mac laptop line. The announcement has been much anticipated and there will undoubtedly be many Mac fans at Apple stores when the new MacBooks are available.

The list of possible new features for the upcoming fresh MacBook is long and slightly tedious. Several members of rumor mill sites have concluded, or hoped, since Apple revolutionized the smartphone market with the touch screen iPhone, a touch screen would logically be Apple's next step for the MacBook. It won't happen. What would the point be?

Before I explain my reasoning, let's talk about why the iPhone is touch screen. When Apple decided to get into the smartphone market, they wanted to eliminate some of the issues that had plagued smartphone to that point. Before the iPhone came along, smartphones had postage stamp-sized screens and salt-sized keys. Apple resolved this by combining the screen and the keyboard, introducing the large multi-touch iPhone screen. Another crippling smartphone issue that was resolved with the touch screen is internet browsing. Most smartphones before the iPhone had miniature baby browsers that made the browsing experience pointless and dreary. The iPhone with its touch screen makes it possible to have a full-blown browser and an experience much like browsing on a computer. I mention all of this to point out that Apple didn't put a touch screen onto the iPhone to be cool or to promote the touch screen phenomenon, they used touch screen on the iPhone to fix smartphone problems.

Back to the MacBook—what problems would Apple be solving by putting a touch screen on a MacBook? None. In fact, I think it would create problems. Assuming the MacBook would have both a traditional full-sized keyboard and a touch screen, can you imagine how sore your forearms would get from moving your hands back and forth from your keyboard and your screen? Productivity would not be gained either—the laptop and desktop are not the right form factor for a touch screen.

A touch screen on a MacBook wouldn't solve any problems, but could something possibly be gained? Not really. The only thing it would bring is a “cool” factor. Apple makes its products to fill a particular need, increase consumer productivity, and of course for Apple to make money. The “cool” factor of most Apple devices is a byproduct. The few times that Apple has focused more on “cool” rather than functionality brought disappointing market results—can anyone say G4 Cube (video)? Since slapping a touch screen onto a traditional MacBook would only result in “cool” and would not bring increased functionality, Apple will more than likely not do it.

Okay, so what about a MacBook with no keyboard—only a touch screen and the devices innards? A Mac tablet maybe? Not likely. The tablet market is very very miniscule for various reasons: tablets are expensive, they don't fulfill enough needs, and they are not very functional. Apple could fix some of these problems by making an affordable tablet that is functional and productive, but what about creating a tablet to fulfill needs not already met with other Apple products?? I doubt it. Let's say I own a laptop and an iPhone. Introducing a third device, a tablet, would be pointless. If the tablet would only give a few of the laptop features and a few of the iPhone features, then why not simply stick to the two devices only? What if I replace my laptop or my iPhone with the MacTablet? I would lose some features and not increase functionality or productivity.

Part of the tablet problem is due to tablet computing not being well defined. Companies that produce tablets all do it differently. Some use a stylus, some have keyboards, some have tons of applications, and some have a single purpose only. There has yet to be a clear tablet vision and several companies have tried to find a niche in tablet computing, but none have succeeded thus far. If any company can jump start the tablet market, it is Apple. Apple could very well surprise me and announce a MacTablet on the 14th, but I probably would not purchase one since I have no need for such a device.