Forget that you hate Apple’s iPad for a moment. Consider this: For reading books, which would you want more, an iPad or a Kindle?

Well, of course you’d want an iPad! The Kindle is grayscale. It’s boring. It looks like a souped-up Speak & Spell toy. The iPad, well, if you’re reading books and also want to play games or browse the web, well then, you’d rather have that, right?

I believe Apple’s blew it as far as the hype was concerned. If the iPad was anything less than the fanboys wanted, it would have retailed for $24,000. Fanboys suck. But Apple may be onto something regarding the iPad’s intended purpose: To destroy the Kindle and dominate the eBook market.

There’s also sunny news on the horizon: I believe Apple isn’t giving up on the touch screen thing. I expect to see new announcements this quarter for a new line of iMacs sporting touch screen displays.

According to those who could tolerate watching the iPad announcement video more than once, Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller were doing some amazing touch screen things with the iPad, techniques that are just not possible on the teensy iPod Touch or iPhone screen. There’s no reason to think that technology is bound only to mobile devices.

Apple redesigned the iWork software suite around the iPad. Being a smart company, Apple isn’t going to let that investment go to waste.

I’m really going out into the rumor bin on this one: If a new iMac were coming, one with a touch screen interface, then the older (current) models would be slowly phased out. Witness the problems Apple is having with the 27-inch iMac screen. They aren’t giving away replacement units to people who have jittery screens or the infamous yellow screen. Could that be because iMac inventory is low?

Okay: I’m not a rabid Apple fanboy. I mean, I don’t fly to San Francisco for MacWorld. Never have, never will. (I was in SFO once during MacWorld, didn’t even drive by the convention center!) But there may be more exciting developments on the Mac front in the next several weeks.

And I don’t think the iPad is dead, despite Wall Street investors currently fleeing from Apple’s stock. Jobs is too smart for that. Time will tell.