In 80 minutes Apple will announce the tablet, and the interwebs is almost bursting with excitement and anticipation..

You absolutely have to give shouts to Apple for being able to create a following like this, anticipation like this, without once ever having officially stated that they were launching the tablet today..

I know lots of people are quick to point out the fan-boyism, but it has to be said, that generating and maintaining that kind of cultish following is near impossible to get right, and AAPL manage to pull it off awesomely..[1]

[1] When you consider tales of Steve Jobs preparing for his “casual looking” speeches for days and agonizing over the smallest details involving lighting and back drop, and contrast this with Steve Balmers lack luster tablet demo from CES, you start to understand why the cult-of-steve exists..

* For the record.. i predict that if they ship by March, Charlie Miller has it rooted by BlackHat :>