In Monday’s blog, I speculated about the features that might be part of the highly-anticipated Apple tablet that was going to be announced on Wednesday (i.e., yesterday) — noting two key potential features that could have an impact on online radio listening.

Feature #1 was the ability to multitask. That would mean that you could listen to Internet radio on an app while you simultaneously read an e-book or surfed the web or wrote an e-mail.

Feature #2 was full support for Adobe Flash. That would permit users to launch most webcasters’ media players directly from their websites within the Safari browser, without the need for downloading a unique app for each one. (Such support would also allow viewing of, among other things, TV shows on Hulu.com.)

Unfortunately, neither feature was part of the big announcement in San Francisco yesterday.

That says to me that the iPhone and iPod Touch will, for now, be the better devices for Internet radio listening. They’re the perfect size and they’ve got great connectivity. The iPad (the name Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced yesterday) doesn’t really add anything to the equation.

Pictured above, a Starfleet-issued PADD (Personal Access Display Device) from the year 2374 (as seen on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”) Tablet computers have been called PADDs in the “Star Trek” universe for the last couple of decades. Did that influence the name of the Apple device? Well, Jobs did show some scenes from the recent “Star Trek” movie in his presentation…

However, keep in mind that, in the long run, everything gets better. Compare an iPod circa 2004 (small black & white screen, does nothing but play MP3s, clunky) to an iPod Touch circa 2010 (vibrant large color screen, thousands of apps, elegant) and then project forward six more years.

It’ll have everything we’re talking about and much more, including features and abilities that we probably can’t even imagine today. In fact, a year from now, there will no doubt be major improvements already.

Progress continues. Plan for it!

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What might the Apple tablet mean to online radio?
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