[puns]

Simple: bluetooth headsets. If you think about it, the current way of using a phone -- i.e. holding up a device to your ear and keeping it there for the duration of the conversation -- is quite clumsy. Making a call on the tablet and talking through a light headset is much more elegant.

[tcdent]

"Making a call on the tablet and talking through a light headset is much more elegant."

To place this call you're going to need a method of input that fits in your pocket, allows you to select recipients and screen incoming calls in addition to sending and receiving the audio. Essentially, a iPad lite, also known as an iPhone.

[puns]

Good point, but you don't necessarily need this input device to be in your pocket, and it doesn't have to come in the form of a phone. For example, here's one solution: accept/decline calls right from your headset without taking the iPad out of the bag. Perhaps the headset will tell you the caller id when you press a certain button so you can choose whether or not to take the call. Dialing can be done through voice as well, or take out the pad and make the call using the touch screen.

[stcredzero]

Not going far enough, either of you! Why not make a Skype peripheral, but operating over Bluetooth and not USB? It wouldn't even need a fancy display. Let a headset take care of sound and the anwser button, just take care of other input/display tasks. A commodity display from an old cellphone would do the trick, and these must be dirt cheap by now. You could probably get the button count down to 6, which is what it is for the Apple Remote. The components would be dirt cheap. Margins would probably be very handsome at first. Make it the size of an old PC card. It would sell like hotcakes!

[electromagnetic]

I know my phone (Motorola) is capable of voice dialing, either by number or of a speed-dial, or I can record an input. Why would I need an additional input device when most phones are capable of voice dialing?

Edit: As the iPad is based on the iPhone's OS, it is already capable of handling voice-dial inputs, you just might have to jailbreak it to access it:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#phone.voice-di...

[tcdent]

Just out of curiosity, do you use voice commands on your device and find them effective? I find manipulating a touch screen device to be faster and more accurate than dictating by voice.

[electromagnetic]

Well as using a handheld device is illegal while driving here in Ontario, and appears to be rapidly spreading through the other provinces (I know P.E.I. adopted it within the last month), it's rather a moot point for any drivers where I live.

However, personally I found voice commands easier than using the iPhone(1) for dialing while distracted. The lack of tactile response in the iPhone means I can't dial without paying complete attention to the device. I have similar problems with the gel USB keyboards and other devices you can get. I have had similar problems with regular 'key dial' cell phones when they lack proper tactile feel (slippery plastic vs rubber buttons with a clear centre mark on the 5 key).

(1) The iPhone is presently the only fully touchscreen phone that I've been interested in enough to try. The Pre had my attention . . . until I found out it was arriving on Bell (monopoly placed in the majority of Canada due to previously being national, and still price outrageously with very poor service and customer service) here in Canada.