The Apple rumour mill is whirring into gear again with the latest Mac Tablet gossip starting to fly in the run up to Christmas. This time, it’s a new name for the most hyped gadget to come out of Cupertino since the iPhone three years ago. So what do we know so far about the MacTablet?
It’ll be called the TabletMac…maybe
News that Apple has nabbed the TabletMac trademark from Axiotron, makers of the touchscreen ModBook, has sent Apple tablet tittle tattle fiends into a tizzy. And no wonder, it’s the first sign from within Apple that something is being cooked up by Jonny Ive and his crew of gadget-mad designers.
Or, it’ll be called the Apple Slate
That said, The New York Time’s Bill Keller referred to the Mac-alike tablet as the Apple Slate in an internal memo. He wants to get the paper’s ailing fortunes back up by getting staff “actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form…of the impending Apple slate.”
It’ll bring new life to magazines
Conde Nast is already preparing for an Apple tablet. The magazine giant, which publishes Vogue and Wired, showed off a concept of how it would deliver our favourite tech title on an Apple backed device. It includes not just flicking through pages, but interacting with graphics and vids too. Think digital mags, but cooler.
Apple TabletMac: coming in 2010?
It’ll pack handwriting recognition just like the Apple Newton
We already love the Apple Newton for its amazing product placement in Under Siege 2. But a recent patent shows that Cupertino is planning on bringing its first handheld’s handwriting recognition to the Apple tablet. It’s been worked on by Larry Yaeger, who delivered on the Newton’s writing skills last time around.
It’ll rock a big virtual keyboard
The virtual keyboard on OS X Snow Leopard got tongues wagging when it was first spotted, seeing as it could be expanded to fill the screen of your regular Mac. Gossip hounds says this points to a proper, tactile keyboard on an Apple tablet, using multitouch to make it the best tablet typing experience ever.
It’ll pack a 10.7 inch screen
Eagle eyed Cupertino fans will know much of the Apple tablet noise has been coming out of Taiwan, where screen manufacturers are said to be hard at work on a 10.7-inch slab, which will handle multitouch gestures. Will it be OLED? Or eInk? No one’s sure, but expect Apple to deliver something peerless.
It’s coming early next year
With no Macworld in 2010, natter has been rife about when we can expect to see the Apple tablet. Most Apple watchers have it pegged for the first quarter of 2009, with rumours rumbling about a February release. Although don’t be shocked if Jobs decide to gazump CES in January with a surprise announcement.
