Dear Steve :

We have waited so long for that "stylus"; I thought I should write and ask in the name of "the rest of us" (of all the designers, architects, artists, and yes engineers, too).

Now that, you have all the cash and the talent (Ike, Tevi and all !), we are waiting for what ?
Bill has gathered a bit of momentum for the thing. Well, once again he had it all wrong ! Oh man, and the "style" ! No taste, these guys !
Just come in and rectify that shot. We hear, here and there, that "Tablet computers are still looking for the killer app" I say, killer app will come along just be brave, you've already done it so many times.

Seriously: I'll give you just one example and and I'm sure you'll understand at once. The architects have been a stronghold for the Mac from the beginning. When Lisa came, the killer apps came along, as for my concern it was called: ArchiCAD. A program had it all right from the beginning and changed the way that people design, giving you practically the whole sector on a silver plate. Now, I talk about architects because I know this sector very well, (I manage more than 50 licenses of ArchiCAD all running on G4s) others can talk about graphics, multimedia, and all.

But I'm sure you are aware of all this and you have probably something in your sleeve to come up at the right moment. The purpose of this letter is to convince you that that moment is NOW !

We all know; Bill knows; you know: that one day we'll all be using some sort of interactive display. Sure, there are people who think "pen sucks" but then there were also people who thought "mouse sucked". What they are missing is that pen is itself a transition, as was the mouse. Until the iSight catches my sight and recognizes my gestures to interact with the objects on my drawing table (made up of some polymer capable of displaying), we want or won't, the pen will be the next input device. Period. You know why ? Not only because, pen is more natural (thousands of years of natural experience!) But because, you can implement new technology into the pen, not into a mouse. Pressure sensitivity is one (and proven, right now) and the fact that pen has more degrees of freedom (a knob has one, a mouse has two, and a pen has three- may be more, if you see what I mean).
Come on, Steve ! Be brave, buy Alias, buy Discreet, buy some small developers give them "the iPen" and we'll all be surprised with all these extraordinary killer apps these guys will come up. (Or if you can't wait, buy me a small lab, well hidden from the eye of the evil, in the hearth of Europe and I'll give it to you in an accelerated pace ;-)

So, let's come back for a second to architecture, -I'm an engineer myself, but ended up as an IT manager for one of Europe's largest architectural bureaus, may be because of my name, I like the profession- What we really need is not a smart tablet as the others are calling it (and I hear that they have already dropped it) No, I just want my Powerbook be convertible like the ACER (sorry, but I had to buy one just to see, if.. well, fortunately for you, it's not ;-) So that, when I'm in a meeting I scribble without disturbing, oh yeah, I don't give a damn if it recognizes my handwriting (although, I know that handwriting recognition of Newton was far better than my palm or the XP tabletPC, that's not the point) I want to be able to show one or two drawings, renderings, photos; take note on them (yeah, like on a drawing, or a print out ;-) connect it to a projector and present; show my boss a diagram of how my xserve is doing for the last seven days, all without quitting the meeting room and without typing or mousing.

Well, I hear you saying, "All this, does not represent a significant market share" But, wait ! I want my architects do the same with their projects: take out the display (be it 20", 17", or polymer) come to the meeting, take notes, draw (yeah, drawing recognition is welcome, it's faster and more accurate than handwriting recognition)
I also want the secretaries come along with their 17" displays (I've just replaced their old generation of iMacs with new 17"LCD iMacs. I have to say "thank you Steve" they are so delighted ! Then again, if you give me the dockable iMacSlate I would replace it once more !)
Remind you that when these people would buy a computer for the their home, which brand they would choose in your opinion !

Steve, thanks for listening, this is just a portion of an huge opportunity which "pen interface" represents, only a portion that I know of, but I'm sure there are a lot which I'm not aware that hopefully others will complete.

See you in one of these legendary keynotes to present us the product we were dreaming of "what, twenty years!"

MimarSinan