John Gruber says Apple Tablet has “no camera, webcam or otherwise.”

★-y eyed Apple commentator, Internet darling and occasional grouse John Gruber has posted an intriguing nugget about the forthcoming Apple Tablet in a post otherwise filled with routine incredulity at reports that an Orange CEO had “confirmed” Apple’s Tablet as being equipped with a webcam earlier this week.

According to Gruber: “For what it’s worth, I’m hearing there is no camera, webcam or otherwise, on The Tablet.

Given the recent glut of rumors that the Tablet will have a webcam, Gruber’s claim is surprising, especially given that a Tablet seems like a natural fit for video conferencing (although my own pendulously wobbling double chins don’t aesthetically invite a below eye level upward view).

9to5Mac feels Gruber’s webcam denial to be ambiguously worded, and points out this Apple patent that describes a technology to actually interlace both image and sensor pixels into the same display. In other words, a display that also operates as a large camera sensor.

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It’s certainly neat technology, but it’s still a camera or “otherwise.” I doubt that Gruber meant anything different than what he said. That leaves the question: is Gruber’s source accurate, and if so, why would Apple leave out a webcam? Is it merely a thinness issue, similar to why the iPod Touch has gone so long without a camera, or are we getting so caught up in our preconceptions of what a tablet should be that we’re underestimating Apple’s history of changing the landscape of conventional product definitions, yet again?

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