Most likely, you already know about the new Apple creation coming later this month, expected to be the long-rumored Apple tablet. Since it is unlikely to offer full-computing, like a traditional laptop and desktop, some may wonder if Apple plans on ever producing a touchscreen version of their all-in-one machine—the iMac.

According to China Times Apple is planning on creating a 22-inch touchscreen iMac to be released later this year . The report points to other manufacturers such as HP and Dell who already have all-in-one machines with touchscreen capabilities and speculates that Apple may need to produce one of there own in order to effectively compete.

Right. Thus far, touchscreen enabled desktops have garnered much hype from the manufacturers and the blogosphere, but have not seen more popularity than the current iMac line. Looking at today's top-sellers at Amazon.com, the iMac claims the #2 spot while the HP touchSmart is #10. Touchscreen all-in-one desktops aren't taking anything away from Apple's iMac success. China Times' notion that Apple needs to produce a touchscreen iMac in order to compete with other all-in-one machines is silly.

Additionally, as I have stated several times previously, touchscreen isn't useful for desktop computers. I think that Apple knows this. Reaching your arms out in front of you to constantly interact with the screen is tiring. Switching between tapping on the keyboard and tapping on the screen would also be wearing. For most everything, the mouse would be just as useful as tapping on the screen with your finger, but wouldn't have the accompanying arm strain. Additionally, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X are all designed with the mouse pointer in mind, not fingers. There is no doubt that the touchscreen feature is cool, but it has yet to show benefits when compared to using a mouse. I find it doubtful that Apple will spit out a touchscreen iMac just to say "Hey, we have touchscreen too!"