With rumours over the iPad and iPhone 4 out of the way, there's plenty of time for tech fanboys, geeks and journalists (not to mention monstrous combinations of all three) to speculate over what the nuances of the yet sight unseen Hewlett Packard tablet. On Monday, a tidbit about the tablet--that it'll be called the PalmPad--surfaced. Back when HP purchased brow-beaten tech giant Palm, they were blunt in saying that a tablet PC utilizing Palm's webOS was most certainly in the card. Bully on both counts.

And now this.

According to Gizmodo, the tablet is now rumoured to recognize the input from a digital pen. Such an interface option certainly would differentiate the tablet from what will no doubt be its chief competitor, the iPad, and would allow HP's tablet to operate much as a Wacom tablet does, making it a treat for those who like to get their art on using digital media. However, there are detractors of pen/tablet computing. Well placed detractors, based in Cupertino.

OK, we'll just say it: Steve Jobs hates the notion of using a stylus with a tablet. 

As 9to5Mac is quick to point out, Steve Jobs, in one of his increasingly legendary other-guy's-tech-disdain moments, was quoted as saying "...if you see a stylus, they blew it." At this point, it's hard to say whether HP's blown it or not. Just because the tablet/stylus combination has been an irritating option in the past, doesn't mean that it won't work this time around, if HP aims their OS and native applications to leverage it to give the user a true advantage in opting to pick up a digital pen over just tapping and swiping away with their finger. Besides, difference is good. Apple wouldn't be Apple were it not able to differentiate their offerings from every other company out there.

Here's hoping that other companies keep on following Apple's lead, not by ripping off their industrial design or interface ideas, but by Thinking Different.