There’s a lot of hype generated recently regarding this new “iTablet” product that Apple is supposed to be unveiling. I’m not usually the one to feed rumor mills because don’t have any track-record regarding these things nor do I have unidentified insider sources. But since my curiosity was piqued enough, I decided to write this post to add my thoughts to the discussion.

This post is done for the sake of fun—as I mentioned, I’m not really in the position to dish out any juicy rumors since I don’t have any good sources for them. But what I can do is speculate based on what I do know and what I have observed.

So here are my thoughts on this new iProduct (I’m not gonna use “iTablet” or “iPad”) in terms of three things: what it will be, what OS it will run on and what the price will be like.

What Will it Be?

I don’t know how the actual product will look like, nor do I know the technical specs or the goodies it will bring. But all I can tell you is that it will be a transitional product.

My definition of a “transitional product” is this: a product that entices a consumer to jump from a lower section of a company’s product line to a higher one, thereby generating more sales for the company.

Apple’s product line has a great divide: on one end of the spectrum, you have the iPods and iPhones that are usable under any major operating system, and on the other end you have the Mac-brand computers that run solely on OS X. While Apple has done a great job in ranging their products within these ends to cater various markets, there’s still that missing link that will bridge the gap between both ends.

Boiling it to the bone, Apple’s core business is still about selling computers. The iPods and iPhones may have generated a lot of revenue for the company, but it still has to sell Macs to really get those profits. Unfortunately, there’s still no reason for consumers to jump to a Mac after they buy their iPods and iPhones. And that’s where the new iProduct steps in. To put it bluntly, the new iProduct has one goal: to turn iPod and iPhone sales into Mac sales.

The iProduct is the market punch that Apple needs. It will turn iPhone and iPod lovers into Mac Fans. And it will achieve this by carefully guiding consumers into the OS X experience—showing them how Macs are better at doing the things they want to do and eventually compelling them to make their next computer purchase a Mac.

What OS Will It Run?

Keeping in mind what I said above, it is only logical that the new iProduct’s OS will be based on the iPhone OS.

The iProduct’s primary target market would be those who already use iPhones and iPods, so the iProduct will have a familiar feeling to it. There will be no steep learning curve for users of iPhones and iPods, and they’ll be able to do what they already do with the new iProduct with minimal fuzz.

But it will also have features that are closer to the base of OS X—the Finder, the Dock, the ability to run some OS X apps, etc. This is where the “transitional” part kicks in: the iProduct will retain the familiarity of the iPhone OS, but it will have elements that are more OS X-like in order to train the user in using Apple’s desktop platform.

Then why the iPhone OS? If the goal is to sell more Macs, why not use a stripped-down version of OS X?

OS X is a beast, and not the cutesy kind either. Apple has put a lot of work towards making the underlying architecture of their system work as a harmonious whole across the whole Mac product line. Stripping it down and then adding in the features to turn it into something iPhone OS-like isn’t likely to happen—because OS X is OS X, no matter what Mac computer it runs on.

With the iPhone OS, all that Apple has to do is to add the new features to make it more OS X like. And it’s easier to add features than remove them.

How About Pricing?

The iProduct will be priced competitively—but in terms of Apple’s product line.

The iProduct will be strategically priced to be more affordable than the MacBook Pros but still pricier than most of the netbooks and other competing products in the market. Remember that it’s still about selling Macs, not dominating the netbook market.

That’s all I have to say about pricing.

That’s It I Guess

So there’s my take. I know that it seems really general, and not very juicy—but that’s exactly my intent. Apple has a tendency to shock us in awe when it comes to their new products, and I am not gonna spoil that experience for me by speculating wildly.

My main belief is that with the iProduct, Apple will finally have something to put in between their iPod and Mac lines. We may not know the exact details about what this product is, but we do know one thing—a lot of fans would be very happy, no matter how it turns out.