With Apple being so mysterious i have been doing my research and here is what i have found about what is guessed to be called the iSlate.

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The Latest News and Rumors

1/25/2010: 9to5Mac claims to have talked to some publishers who have the scoop on the tablet, and they say the cost will be "[nowhere] near $1000, as has been reported elsewhere."

1/25/2010: The LA Times reports that the NY Times has been cooped up in Cupertino for the last few weeks developing a version of its paper for the tablet. The article also has a quote from a Conde Nast press release in which the publishing giant just comes out and says it: they will develop "more content for the iPhone and the anticipated tablet from Apple."

1/25/2010: Tech Crunch heard through the grape vine that Steve Jobs said of the tablet, "This will be the most important thing I've ever done."

1/22/2010: Fox News' Clayton Morris has heard Apple's "in talks" with both Verizon and AT&T to provide data for the tablet.

1/22/2010: iLounge has a an oddball that they've "double-confirmed": Double dock connectors, so it can be charged in both portrait and landscape mode. Making more sense, a tablet-wide plastic stripe for decent connectivity (plausible),

1/21/2010: A truckload from the WSJ: Apple "envisions that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in homes," and has experimented with facial recognition through a built-in camera, along with virtual sticky notes that can be left behind. Also backing up our earlier report, the WSJ Apple's in discussions with newspaper, mag book publishers like the NYT, Conde Nast and Harper Collins, and has "exploring electronic-textbook technology." EA is apparently on tap to demo video games for it.

Also curious: The WSJ says Steve Jobs is "supportive of the old guard and [he] looks to help them by giving them new forms of distribution," referring to old media companies, which echoes a quote in the NYT that in the battle over ebook pricing with Amazon, apparently "Apple has put an offer together that helps publishers and, by extension, authors."

1/19/2010: Apple's shell company, Slate Computing, has also filed for a trademark on the name iPad. Oh God help us.

1/18/2010: Apple invited everyone to "come see our latest creation" on Jan. 27, matching reports from All Things D and the WSJ that Apple would hold an event in late January to announce the tablet.

1/18/2010: The WSJ reports Apple's talking to HarperCollins about ebooks for the tablet—the first non-mag or newspaper reading content we've heard of.

1/14/2010: Apple hit Gawker with a cease-and-desist letter talking about how Gawker's bounty for Tablet info is a no-no, which seems like a sorta soft confirmation there is something, since that's when Apple tends to sue people.

1/13/2010: It might be like an "iPhone on steroids."

1/12/2010: The Grubes hears there is "no camera, webcam or otherwise, on The Tablet."

1/11/2010: Apple just turned off the lights at Fingerworks.com, whose IP could show up in the tablet.

1/10/2010: France Telecom/Orange exec Stéphane Richard may or may not have said "yes" to questions about a webcam in the tablet.

1/8/2010: Apple's been working on a multitouch version of iWork for a couple of years, according to a former Apple designer. Could it be for the tablet?

1/8/2010: Reuters reports that AVY Precision Technology will start producing "aluminum casings" for the tablet next month, in time for a "second quarter" launch. AluminummMmmm.

1/7/2010: This is a really neat patent for using the screen's pixels themselves as touch sensors (instead of placing the touch layer on top of the display), leading to super thin devices.

1/6/2010: Apparently, Apple expects to sell 10 million of them this year, according to a former Google exec, though his information didn't come from Apple, so I'm not sure who's expecting what then.

1/4/2010: The WSJ again says it's shipping in March after being announced later this month (though the "ship date hasn't been finalized and could still change"), while All Things D says more specifically it's being announced Jan. 27. The WSJ also says it "will come with a 10 to 11-inch touch screen," that "Apple was working on two different material finishes for the device" and cites analysts who claim it will be $1000, which might include unlimited Wi-Fi hotspot access of some kind.
Uh, What's It Called?

The iPhone was called the iPhone years before Steve Jobs ever took the stage to announce it. We don't have the luxury of such clarity here. I would think the name has no more than two syllables, personally.

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Overwhelmingly what "evidence" there is points to some form of Slate. Not only did Apple register the domain iSlate.com through an intermediary to keep it a secret (discovered by Mark Gurman), they've trademarked it through a shell company called Slate Computing (signed for by Apple's Senior Trademark Specialist) and registered domains and trademarks in Europe through their usual IP law firm, utilizing their standard secret trademark practices, last used with the iPhone. They've also registered "Magic Slate" through the same company. And, while we initially blew off NYT editor Bill Keller referencing an "Apple Slate" in a speech as meaningless, it's a whole lot curiouser now.

Update 12/29/2009: Another shell company, iGuide Media—using Apple Senior Trademark Specialist Regina Porter as the signatory—applied for a trademark on iGuide, which seems, from the trademark description, to a be service less so than a piece of hardware:

Downloadable electronic publications in the nature of books, magazines, newsletters, journals, and blogs in the fields of entertainment, sports, science, history, culture, celebrities, news, current events, politics, technology, and education

Borders referenced an "Apple iPAD" in a survey, but it sounds like the sad invention of a survey copywriter who hit caps lock instead of shift, not to mention a digital feminine hygiene product. Apple also registered a trademark for TabletMac, but most likely to protect the Mac brand name from modders (it sounds unwieldy and gross).

Apple's put a lot of effort into iSlate it seems. Is that the name of the Apple Tablet?
When's It Coming?

Update 1/4/2010: The WSJ again says it's shipping in March after being announced later this month (though the "ship date hasn't been finalized and could still change"), while All Things D says more specifically it's being announced Jan. 27.

Well, obviously everybody who picked a day before today is wrong. Which leaves everyday after today! The overall consensus is that's being announced in late January—note, though, that a lot of the people who're part of the new January cabal were the same people convinced it was coming in the fall.

iLounge predicted awfully specifically back in September that "Apple is currently planning to announce it on or before January 19, 2010." The Financial Times
said two days ago that Apple is expected "make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th" at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where Apple's rented a stage for "several days." Silicon Alley Insider says that Apple is going to demo a tablet in January.

But when can you actually hold one? From most to least specific: The Wall Street Journal says the tablet is actually going to ship in March, and an analyst said it's coming in March or April. iLounge says it'll hit stores in May or June, like the iPhone. Digitimes reported Foxconn is supposed to have almost half a million of 'em shipped by April. Little emperor of Apple analysts Gene Munster says the first half of 2010. A bunch of connected Mac people just say 2010.

Everybody from the WSJ to Apple fan sites are convinced the tablet is being announced sometime late next month, shipping 2-6 months afterward, so hype and development can bloom, like the iPhone. (Though most of 'em were wrong three months ago.)


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