And so has the media speculation.

“Will Kindle pricing trump Apple sex appeal? Isn’t that the question, really?” asks one book publisher in the NYT.

And get this: Apple sees money in old media. WSJ.

Oh wait, it says here the Apple tablet won’t save old media. PCWorld.

And here’s a survey that says 70% of us won’t spend more than $700 for the tablet. ZDNet.

Still, our question remains the same: Will the Apple tablet allow Mighty kids everywhere to finally shed their 20-pound backpacks? MW

—David Carr, New York Times

In today’s NYT, media columnist David Carr fuels the frenzy:

“So, is the Apple tablet a figment of so much Web-borne pixie dust or is it the second coming of the iPhone, a so-called Jesus tablet that can do anything, including saving some embattled print providers from doom?

“I’m an optimist, so I will pick door No. 2.”

David Carr in today’s NYT.

CNN Money: New York Times (Hearts) Apples iSlate.

Previously: Could the Apple Tablet Allow Mighty Kids Everywhere To Someday Finally Shed Their 20-Pound Backpacks?

In recent days, the battered and beleaguered publishing industry has been waxing deliriously about the rumored 2010 release of the Apple tablet (working name), a souped-up Kindle-plus-plus like-device that will reportedly sell for between $400 and $900 and offer e-books, TV programs, Internet access and other as-yet-unnamed bells and whistles.

Newspaper and magazine publishers have all but fallen on bended knee, praying that the Apple tablet will help them recapture the public’s interest in their products.

And in the case of the highly imaginative and innovative publisher, it just might.

In the video below, a Swedish media company imagines how a tablet-like device might change the reading experience for users. (Skip to the three-minute mark.)

And here, Terry McDonell, the editor of Sports Illustrated, shows us what reading his magazine might be like in the not-too-distant future.

But what has been conspicuously missing in all the overheated coverage and imagining of the Apple tablet experience is how the device could revolutionize the academic experience for school-age kids.

Could the tablet be the technological breakthrough that will finally allow kids to download e-textbooks? Think what it would be like to explore maps that not only teach geography but include videos that make the cultures of various African nations come to life? History books that not only tell of famous events, but show actual videos—the first walk on the moon, Dr. King’s March on Washington, President Obama’s swearing-in—of the events themselves?

It might be too expensive at the start, but surely equipping every kid with a tablet and the necessary e-textbooks would soon be cheaper for school systems than buying tens-of-thousands of textbooks that need updating every couple of years just to stay current.

Learning would become instantly energized and interactive.

And think of the freedom of mobility! The end of heavy backpacks!

But is Apple even eyeing up the school-kid market for their greatly ballyhooed futuristic device? Are the school systems?

Is anybody?