> Google builds a durable tablet for academics and scientists to research in the field with. Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate.
Exactly, about the shutout. Remember the project that siphoned juice from the audio jack to power sensors? That would probably be a no-go. I'm thinking about jailbreaking my iPod just to experiment with that project.
The dock connector is actually pretty good for providing power and basic connectivity-up-to-a-USB-port, but I'm betting it would be shut down by App Store rules. Which is a shame, because Cocoa is probably one of the best frameworks for a researcher or hobbyist to build in.
Which is where Google would come in: they could provide a great API for building out sensor platforms, not only in WiFi and Bluetooth, but also whatever 2.4ghz home-rolled or XBee modules people are using.
Apple has kinda done this via the dock connector. For example I just bought one of these to turn my iPod touch into a sound level meter: http://www.studiosixdigital.com/iphone_measurement_micropho....
The bad news is that it's not compatible with the iPad or newest iPhone/iPod touch so possibly Apple is removing the external interface capability.
edit: there are also ODBII interfaces although I don't know if they work with the newest iDevices