Have you seen the Apple Imagination contest yet? It's totally rad, and one of the better marketing promotions I've seen this in the last couple of months. Apple Discounts sponsored a contest for those creative type Macintosh users who like to mock up the products they would buy if offered. These concept models are common pseudo-proofs that fly around rumor sites between Apple's product releases, and occasionally they turn out to be an accurate glimpse into what the great white giant is thinking.

At the very least these types of exercises are an accurate picture of what the community wants to see in future products. As can be expected, the contest submissions include tablet Macs and iPhones and updated iPods in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

The judges rated the submissions on originality, creative presentation and "desirability" to pick a grand prize winner of a Tivo-esque home appliance that doubles as an all-in-one wireless media serving platform. David Randall's iVault is definitely an interesting idea for a product, and more importantly the demand is there. Not surprisingly, residential data vaults and central media centers are already making an appearance as an amenity on new construction luxury homes.