That an Apple tablet is coming is far from a foregone conclusion. If it does exist, we don't know what it looks like or costs, or even if it would be marketed as a Mac or an iPod-something. That's not a problem for Mr. Moritz, though, who calls this non-existent product a failure already.
I have no inside information, but my predictions are as follows. Apple will never release anything like a tablet, because the form factor is designed for stylii, and Apple is pushing touch. Any non-iPhone-sized touch device is unlikely. Furthermore, the Mac will never be sold as a laptop for less than $700. No netbook Mac is coming! The "consumer hit" Moritz describes is only replacing sales of laptops, not generating new sales itself, so it is useless, or worse, to Apple.
The state of the Wintel consumer laptop today is a direct consequence of the failings of Vista. If a PC laptop running Vista was a compelling product, it would sell for $1000+ like a real laptop. Such a thing cannot be built, as nobody wants Vista, especially in the low-end, hobbled incarnation found on low-end PCs. Don't believe the Linux hype either, as the standard netbook purchase is not the $200 generic option, but the $400 model from a name brand running XP. By dint of age that OS runs on what is now very cheap hardware.
Fixing the OS won't fix the problem, because expectations have been forever shifted. The "digital hub" vision of a muscular computer (almost a server, really) powering one's ever-more-computationally-intense "lifestyle", was the (very profitable) holy grail for Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the entire industry. Now, only Apple continues to compete for the many-cycle user. Indeed, who would have thought any popular computer in 2009 would struggle with video editing?
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