Rumours are all around now on the 10.1″ tablet Apple will release in September. A new music format called Cocktail is finished to be implemented in the device. ChannelWeb reports on five must-have features the Apple tablet should have.

“Premium Content Viewing Experience

If early reports are to be believed, the Apple tablet looks as if it is going to be a platform designed for consuming content. That means listening to music, watching video and surfing the Web. To that end, the Apple tablet needs to have a high-definition screen with crisp visuals. Adding speakers that don’t entirely lose their oomph if a finger happens to cover them — as is the case with the iPhone 3G — would also be a remarkable improvement.

Cocktail Needs To Deliver
While Cocktail may be an album format as opposed to a hardware innovation, it’s important to the overall well being of the platform that the format deliver. Apple’s iPod probably wouldn’t have been as wildly successful without the iTunes store; the iPhone probably would’ve survived without the App Store, but those apps are certainly helping sell hardware. In many cases, Apple supporters already own one or both — or several — iPods or iPhones. While Apple is reportedly pricing the tablet at around $800, that’s not exactly chump change. So for Apple to continue to get consumers who don’t form the core of its customer base to purchase the tablet, in addition to other devices, making Cocktail a compelling format could go a long way.

Built-In Wireless Sync
If it is assumed that an Apple tablet will be Wi-Fi-capable, then including some of features of the Time Capsule is the next logical step. Time Capsule is a wireless storage device that sits on a Wi-Fi network and allows users to sync peripherals like printers to the network, as well as perform over-the-air backup. The Apple tablet should parrot some of Time Capsule’s capabilities but should go a step further and sync to home entertainment systems — not just the Apple TV. Because the tablet places such a large emphasis on content consumption, it should come out of the box capable of streaming music to a home stereo system or HD TV.

Better Screen Technology
Apple makes strides with its touch-screen technology seemingly with each new iteration of the iPhone. But an entirely touch-screen tablet means the Cupertino Crew needs to come up with a screen that is more resistant to finger smudges. On an iPhone or iPod Touch, smudges are tolerable even while surfing the Web in line at the grocery store. But on a tablet device that could measure 10 inches diagonally, coming up with a new screen that keeps oils from sticking to it may be surprisingly important. It’s likely to get frustrating quickly if content starts to be obscured because a finger swipe was required to turn a page or surf to the next Web page.

Tablet-Specific Apps
Yes, there’s the Cocktail music format, but the tablet device will need its own apps as well. It seems unlikely that apps developed for the iPhone will function on a bigger screen. Apple, then, needs to put the call out to developers to begin creating apps that’ll take advantage of the size of the screen and — hopefully — some of the other functionalities that the Jobs Crew has built into the device.”

[Via ChannelWeb]