Bloomberg says their sources connected to the plans of the company. RIM, the BlackBerry manufacturer, recently acquired the domain BlackPad.com. Further details are not yet available. It’s also not clear if the BlackPad will run BlackBerry OS 6. The price will be somewhere near the price of the iPad at $499. RIM plans a press conference next week, maybe they’ll release some more info then.

Source: Bloomberg

Mobile app analytics company Flurry, keeps track of mobile applications used by people. They found 50 devices being used by people from Cupertino with characteristics of an Apple Tablet. Most of the applications running on the devices are games, which comes as no surprise. Apple has been focussing on the gaming industry since the launch of the iPod touch and admitted it last year. Other applications used by the Apple’s employees belong to the entertainment, news, lifestyle, and utilities categories.

The thing that catches my eyes is that the devices are using iPhone applications that are available in iTunes already. This seems to prove that the tablet can run iPhone games and other applications as well. Another thing that catches my attention is the fact the devices seem to run iPhone OS 3.2. That firmware version has not been launched yet, but a tablet running iPhone OS is not exactly what I hoped for.

The next subject I want to discuss is the fact that this Wednesday, AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity might end. This opens the possibilities for other mobile carriers to start selling the iPhone as well.

“According to an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this, a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, though it’s not yet clear what other carrier (or carriers) will be stepping in to also carry the phone”

Another piece of information regarding mobile carriers explains the colors on the invitations for Apple’s media event. Each color seems to be a hint to a mobile carrier. Pink means T-Mobile, blue means AT&T, green means Clear etc. Take a look at the picture below.

This is what an analyst says about a possible interpretation of the colors:

“T-Mobile USA Inc. will get the phone this summer, followed by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the fall, and Clearwire Corp. in 2011, Horan wrote in a note yesterday. AT&T Inc. has been the exclusive carrier since the iPhone debuted in June 2007.”

Back to the Flurry statistic. The New York Times seems to confirm the fact that 50 tablet devices were running iPhone games:

“It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.”

And last but not least the financial results Apple announced yesterday. Last quarter of Apple’s fiscal year of 2010 that started in October 2009, has been the most successful quarter ever. The first quarter ended on December 26, 2009 and has been the most profitable so far.

The company posted revenue of $15,68 billion with a net quarterly profit of $3,38 billion. The same quarter last year brought a net quarterly profit of $2,26 billion to Apple’s bank account. Apple sold 3,36 million Macs. That’s 33% more than last year. They also sold 21 million iPods and 8,7 million iPhones. Steve Jobs said the following:

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Steve Jobs. “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

Source: Flurry (tablet statistics) / AT&T iPhone exclusivity / Invitations explained / Financial results

On May 24, 2001, Kevin Fox, a user experience designer for Google, posted some interesting information on his blog. He stated that Apple was planning to bring a full-sized tablet-based computer on the market. Apple has tried to do this four times, but the device never saw the light of day. The fifth attempt was called iPad. The device had a 12-inch LCD touch- and stylus-sensitive screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768, weighed 2 to 3 pounds and had a price tag placed just under a thousand dollars. Still Apple didn’t deliver, but iPad could be the real name as we’ve learned not so long ago. (Source: Fury)

The story continues on November 18, 2002, Matthew Rothenberg at eWeek  writes that “It’s my strong belief, let’s call it a hunch, that prototype Mac tablets are already making the rounds among select developers” adding “Nota bene: I’ve yet to get my hands on a smoking pen that will verify the Tablet Mac’s existence. Any readers with first-hand experience are welcome to drop me a line (in the strictest confidence, of course).”

Less then two months later, on January 3, 2003, Rothenberg has gotten information about the so called Tablet Mac. It looks like a large iPod, has an 8-inch screen, no keyboard and runs Mac OS X and aims at the multimedia market. The device was set to debut at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco of that year. We all know how that went. (Source: MacRumors)

On June 4, 2003, Steve Jobs gave his opinion about the iTablet:

“There are no plans to make a tablet… people want keyboards. We look at the tablet and we think it is going to fail. Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already.”

Apple apperantly changed their plans.

November 27, 2003: Robert Cringely ignores Steve Jobs’ opinion and says  the following:

“Quanta, the Taiwanese company that makes many Apple notebooks, has been apparently switching its production to the new tablets…”

The tablets may arrive as early as January (2004 that is), according to Cringely. The users of the device will be able to watch TV in your bathroom, access your audio and video collection from anywhere in the house, route video to the TV screen from your desktop or the Internet, check your mail, surf the web and play games. Kind of like the things we expect te device will have when it is introduced on January 27th. (Source: PBS)

Almost a year later on August 13, 2004, Tony Smith from The Register reports on a European design trademark filing by Apple for a product name “Electronic Device”. Smith says it’s the long-awaited tablet computer. The patent references several PC tablets so it could finally be the real thing. (Source: The Register)

Another year later on August 24, 2005, Apple posts an ad where they ask for a “Handwriting Recognition Engineer”. Apple believes a tablet should be used with a stylus, since that’s the way to interact with computers. Engadget comments:

“Apple did receive a patent for a tablet-style computer earlier this year and so we wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that one of the reasons they switched to Intel was so they could build an ultralight, ultrathin Tablet Mac.”

Let’s hope the tablet Apple is going to show us the 27th won’t need a stylus. Look at the iPhone and iPod touch. They can easily be controlled by gestures of the user’s hands. (Source: Engadget)

The story continues wit a new rumour on February 2, 2006, where you need to be an alien in order to use the device. The 52-page “Mode-based graphical user interface for touch sensitive input devices” patent filing shows a hybrid tablet/notebook.

Even though there are so many so called clues to the existence of the Apple Tablet, AppleBlog’s Eddie Hargreaves lists the Apple Tablet as one of the “Ten Biggest Apple Rumors That Never Came True”. The post is from May 14, 2007, but the story didn’t end there. (Source: The Apple Blog)

On November 6, 2007, the story is being picked up again and it seems Apple is still thinking about releasing a tablet computer. And they’re working together with Asus? CNET’s Crave reporter Rory Reid says the following during a dinner with some folks from Asus:

“Asus is helping Apple build a Tablet PC. You can bet your bottom dollar it’s being built as you read this. Mac fanboys rejoice.”

Maybe Apple was busy building the device. It takes a lot of time to build something new from scratch. It’s only been a little more than two years ago.

Anyhow, on January 9, 2008, Fred Vogelstein states “Apple’s hardware engineers had spent about a year working on touchscreen technology for a tablet PC”. It became the iPhone. (Source: Wired)

March 3, 2008, Steve Jobs said “I can’t talk about unannounced products” to New York Times reporter John Markoff, who wanted to know if Apple is busy developing a Newton-like tablet device. (Source: AppleInsider)

And less then a year ago, on April 11, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports:

“People privy to the company’s strategy say Apple is working on… a portable device that is smaller than its current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod touch.”

The WSJ may not be far from the truth, since recent rumours suggest the device might look a lot like an oversized iPod or iPhone. (Source: WSJ)

The rumours are starting to build up to an unstoppable climax. On April 27, 2009, a report from BusinessWeek states the Appel Media Pad is smaller then a Kindle but with a bigger screen. An anonymous source is quoted:

“We are talking about a device where people will say, ‘Damn, why didn’t we do this?’ Apple is probably going to define the damn category.”

The Media Pas was supposed to be launched in Autumn 2009. We’re still waiting. (Source: BusinessWeek)

On May 21, 2009, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claims there will be no Apple Tablet until mid-2010. Seth Weintraub at ComputerWorld doesn’t like Munster’s claim. He is still very excited and will be surprised if Apple doens’t deliver something by the holidays. Well, he must still be crying. Hopefully he gets very happy again when he sees the mythical device show up at the Media Event this Wednesday. (Source: ComputerWorld)

The reports keep coming and July 21, 2009, is no exception. An interesting report form The Street states that Apple has had a prototype of the device for about a year but is unsure how to market it. The device has a 9-inch to 10-inch screen with a keyboard and will be subsidized by Verizon. They also think the new product will be a total fiscal failure because no one really wants a tablet computer. (Source: The Street)

And this week’s Wednesday it will be precisely six months ago since the Birtains’s Financial Times reported about the following, on July 27, 2009:

“Apple is racing to offer a portable tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device is expected to be launched alongside new content deals, including some aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music… the touch-sensitive computer will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally. It will connect to the internet like the iPod touch – probably without phone capability but with access to the web, and to Apple’s online stores for software and entertainment.”

The price of the device will be around $600-$1000 and will be released in September or October, the rest of the report says. (Source: Financial Times)

The last six months of our journey through time are filled with rumours about the mythical Apple Tablet computer. This journey continues with the rumours I gathered and posted on iTabletFreakz in the last couple of months. Instead of going through the different posts chronologically, I’d like to discuss the different features of the device. I’ve put the different rumours in several categories, ranging from the size of the screen to the actual specs of the device.

The screen size:

On November 29, 2009, iLounge posted a report with some details about Apple latest toy. They claim the screen size will be 10.7-inches diagonally. Most reports talking about the size of the screen estimate it to be 9, 10, or 11 inches big. The most recent report talks about 10-11 inches.

The name:

Although most people use the name iTablet, in December last year MacRumors found out that the name of the device could be iSlate. It was some kind of turning point. People stopped calling the device iTablet and started naming it the iSlate. Still iSlate could be the wrong name as well. Again MacRumor discovered a new piece of evidence that stated the name of Apple’s latest creation will likely be iPad. It’s stil unclear what the name will really be, but there are so many names circling around the web, one of those names must be the right one.

The media event:

Early reports stated the launch date of the Apple Tablet will be during the holidays, but iLounge reported a January 19, 2010 launch date. It was later announced that Apple will hold a media event on three days: January 24, 25 and 26. Not long after, a new report said, a special media event will be held on January 26 and was later confirmed. Apple usually delivers certain events on Tuesdays and the 26th is no exception. However, on January 5, 2010, All Things Digital reported that the event will take place on the 27th of January. This date was eventually officially confirmed by Apple themselves by sending colorful invitations for the media event with the following tag line that got many people even more excited: “come see our latest creation”.

Tech specs:

There are so many rumours about the specs of the device, so I made a list of the most returning rumours below:

• Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity
• Camera (yes, no, yes again)
• LCD and OLED screen with a size ranging from 9-inch to 11-inch
• P A Semi processor
• Aluminum casing
• iPhone OS or Mac OS (or maybe a hybrid between the two)
• App Store support
• E-book reader
• Subsidized by AT&T or Verizon (or other mobile carriers)
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
• Bluetooth
• Built-in speaker grills
• Microphone
• GPS (that could be cool, watching TomTom or Navigon on such a big screen)
• Virtual keyboard (no real one)

click on image for a larger version

Price of the device:

Personally I don’t want to pay more than $800 for the tablet computer. I’m probably one of the few people who’s prepared to pay more than $600. A survey conducted by Retrevo has shown that only 20% of Microsoft users and 41% of Apple users are willing to pay more than $800. Most people will only buy the device if the price is $600 or less. A more recent survey, also conducted by Retrevo, shows that the statistics have slightly changed. People are now willing to pay more than $600, but not more than $700. No matter how much the tablet can do, Apple has to come up with a really good price to convince people to buy it.

Conclusion:

People can no longer say the device isn’t coming. It’s as clear as it can get. The iTablet, iSlate, iPad or whatever it’s name might be, is going to enter our world with never before seen force. It will shake the world. It will redefine our way of reading newspapers, magazines, cartoons and other print media. Apple will deliver a device so beautiful, you can hardly say no to it.

————————————————————————————————

You can also read this report via the History page. I devided the report in three parts. Take a look: History.

“We haven’t heard this first hand, but we’ve heard it multiple times second and third hand from completely independent sources. Senior Apple execs and friends of Jobs are telling people that he’s about as excited about the upcoming Apple Tablet as he’s ever been.”

The quote about Steve being extremely happy made my day back then, but him saying the tablet computer will be the most important thing, is making me extremely happy as well. Lucky for me and everybody else the event is only  a little more than two days from now.

P.S. January 27th is only a few days from now and I will be working together with the people from iPhoneFreakz.com to deliver a live blog on that day. You can follow that live coverage here on this page as well as on iPhoneFreakz.com. Hope to see you then.

Penny-Arcade.com drew a cartoon portraying a guy like myself who can hardly wait till the January 27th event.

click on the picture for a larger version

Crunchgear.com wrote a piece about the tech specs of the Apple Tablet. They think the device will not have a battery. Instead it is powered by an arc reactor, designed by Tony Stark. The touchscreen is on the back and seems to be touching you back. You’ll also have a choice for media playback, between iTunes. And if you open up the device to take a look at the motherboard you’ll see it interacts with a piece of the All-Spark.

These two post definitely made me laugh. I think I can now suppress my emotions and wait until Steve Jobs shows up on stage the 27th.

Time for my personal opinion: I think $1000 is too much for such a device. You can buy a complete and much more powerful computer system for that money. The question that keeps sticking in my mind is: why would I need a tablet device (besides the fact that I probably need one for my website)? In my opinion the tablet must be powerful enough that it can replace a laptop.

Apple really has to come up with some very good stuff to persuade people to buy the tablet computer. I don’t necessarily want to read e-books on such a device, so it’s not a big deal for me if that’s not integrated. But I would like to have 3G so I can choose to buy a data plan with it. I really like the fact that I have internet on my iPhone 3GS where ever I am and it would be handy to be able to surf on the web on a larger screen.

I don’t live in America so I am not familiar with AT&T services, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not the best. I definitely understand people don’t want to buy a device that’s connected to a bad service like AT&T. So if people have a choice to buy the device from Verizon and other mobile services as well, it would definitely be a big pro.

Another thing I have to agree with is a long battery life. I think that’s one of the things that could actually persuade people to buy the Apple tablet. Apple’s MacBooks are great and part of their success, I think, is the fact their batteries last almost 8 hours with a single charge. If the tablet computer lasts much longer, than that could mean instant buy.

I think Apple has to come up with some pretty good stuff. A long battery life, 3G connectivity and e-books won’t be enough. I will only buy the device if the App Store is integrated. The facial recognition also sounds awesome and you have to be able to watch videos, listen to music, play games, surf on the internet, and do your homework on it as well. If the tablet offers all that, than Apple has persuaded me.

How much are you willing to pay for the upcoming tablet device?

According to a new report the tablet will have a aluminum shell and be thinner than the original iPhone. Even the buttons of the iPhone will be on the device:

“Nestled in an aluminum shell that leverages the Apple’s expertise in unibody construction but thinner proportionality than the original iPhone, the tablet reportedly sports all of the same buttons found on the handset, right down to its iconic home button — which, like the volume toggle, is missing from the rendering. 

Similarly, the tablet is said to sport all the same in/out connectivity as the current iPhone 3GS, including a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker grills, a microphone, GPS, 3G connectivity and a 30-pin dock connector. Like the rendering, its 10-inch display is framed by a black border that bleeds into its wrap-around aluminum enclosure.”

Apparently the tablet will have two dock connectors. It enables the device to be docked in portrait or landscape mode. Powering the device can be done by choosing either one of the dock connectors. The back will be metal but with a “long rear stripe” for wireless broadcasting. The first generation iPhone also had a metal back with a black stripe along the bottom. Metal prevents radio signal transmissions so the black stripe was necessary. And last but not least, the tablet will likely offer 3G connectivity together with built-in Wi-Fi. The question remains: will the device need a contract for data service or can the customer choose to buy device without a 3G data plan?

Source: AppleInsider (iPhone resemblance) iLounge (two dock connectors)

P.S. January 27th is only a few days from now and I will be working together with the people from iPhoneFreakz.com to deliver a live blog on that day. You can follow that live coverage here on this page as well as on iPhoneFreakz.com. Hope to see you then.

Apparently Apple will be targeting the new device at both homes and classrooms. The tablet could be a device shared by multiple members of your family to read news and check emails. The ‘classrooms’ part is where the e-books kick in. The device will also have a virtual keyboard for  input. That last tidbit sounds logical since the device will have a touchscreen. It would be really strange if Apple added a real keyboard to the tablet.

Several reports I’ve posted before showed Apple is working with book, magazine and newspaper publishers, but they’re also working with television networks to create some kind of “best of TV” subscription service. Apple has already confessed they see the iPod touch as a gaming platform. They’ve send invitations, for the January 27th event, to the gaming media which suggests the tablet could focus on games as well.

One of the things that really caught my eye was the fact that the device would be able to recognize faces by the built-in camera. A previous post already claimed the device will have a camera, but a few days later a new post claimed there won’t be a camera at all. A lot of the news that shows up on the web a few days prior to the actual event is usually based on true facts. If there is a camera and the device is capable of recognizing faces, that could be one of the things to lure new customers.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The tag line seems to hint at the upcoming tablet: “Come see our latest creation”.

So back to the Apple Tablet. The rumours suggest that the tablet will arrive soon. So the owners of the website, m.MyIncipio.com, must have thought that with the iTablet/iSlate, there will also be a whole bunch of tablet cases. They made a special page they called “Apple Tablet Cases”. For a second I thought “wow, maybe there are cases already. These could give us an idea of the looks of the device”, but unfortunately the page is empty. It says: “Cases for the Apple Tablet – Coming Soon!”

On the other hand…could this be more proof of the existence of an Apple Tablet? Are certain suppliers already familiar with the upcoming device? Only 8 more days to go and we’ll all know.