Apple, our modern-day oracle? « It's the small things that make a difference.

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In a few days, Apple will announce the next product we didn’t know we need, but we’ve got to have. Or at least we hope so.

Speculation has been running wild and most believe that Apple, during their special event planned for January 27th, will announce a tablet computer with a multitouch screen similar to the iPhone, but in a larger format. Perhaps it will be 7 or 10 inches, or both. It will be called the iTablet, iSlate, or perhaps even iPad.

Or so the rumors say.

The content of the rumors is not as interesting, though, as the motivation for the frenzy. Why do we feel the need to speculate on what Apple’s doing?

When Apple makes a move, it sends shock waves in every direction. At CES, the Consumer Electronics Show recently concluded at the beginning of January, there were hundreds of mentions of “Slate” products, an obvious hopeful ploy by manufacturers reacting to the off-chance that Apple would release a product with the same name.

Could it be that Apple is the modern-day oracle, soothsayer, and our source for the future in terms of technology and our daily routine?

Once we might have been wary of disruptive innovation, but now we crave it. And we’re looking to Apple to provide it. The iPod has changed how we consider and purchase music, the iPhone has changed the meaning of mobile connectivity and the richness of applications we can use on-the-go.

Valleywag goes a step further than my oracle comparison, and has a biblical take on the entire thing, likening Steve Jobs to Moses and the rumored tablet computer as the most-famous tablets ever: the 10 commandments.

Often people mistake “innovation” as simply the next generation or model of a company’s product. Increasing storage or processor size is not innovation, nor are new colors or bundling software applications.

But it is not just innovation that draws us to Apple, it is also the execution and design. Apple combines these small steps in innovation with a design that makes people immediately covet the product. Something that they previously hadn’t considered becomes the new “need.”

Apple’s recent string of product hits means that everyone looks forward to being “wowed” by them. The invitation for the Apple event on the 27th reads “Come see our latest creation.” Every word chosen by Apple is analyzed to the nth degree because of what they say and what they don’t say.

What have they created now? Will it change our lives?

Most of all I look at the rumors surrounding everything Apple does as a search for hope. In guessing what Apple will do, we as consumers also dream about what might change our lives, and constantly modify what we need with what we hope desperately technology will provide us.

And hope is a small thing that can drive us for our entire lives.

What are you hoping for from the future of Apple? Or do you care?

To keep abreast of the rumors: