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We should be seeing the Apple Tablet soon. If you believe all the rumors that are flying out there. What put the mills back to working overtime was a Financial Times report that Apple has reserved the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for a big product announcement on January 26th 2010. Steve Jobs hired the same venue back in September when he revealed information on Apple’s new line of iPods.

While we don’t generally tend to trust rumors, they’re still really fun to read about! So we’ve put together a bit of a guide about everything that’s been said about Apple’s supposed tablet.

What is it going to be called?

Mark Gurman discovered that Apple have registered the domain www.iSlate.com, and that they’ve done this through an intermediary to keep it hidden. Apple have also registered a trademark for TabletMac, but that sounds a bit weird to our ears. Magic Slate is another name that’s been trademarked through the same intermediary.

Judging from the names alone, our money is on iSlate.

A picture of what the tablet MAY look like.

When will it be released?

There have been a lot of predictions in this regard, and a chunk of potential release dates have passed already. The 26th of January is an option, although we think that’s too soon. What they’ll probably end up doing is a demo of the product.  Digitimes reports that Foxconn (the company that does most of Apple’s product manufacture) will be shipping in April and iLounge states that the tablet will probably hit stores in May or June. The first half of January 2010 seems like a safe bet, with noted Apple analyst Gene Munster echoing that opinion.

What’s it going to cost?

The iPhone initially cost $600, which then fell to $400. When the 3G was released, the price plummeted to $200 and you can now pick up the 8GB model for $99. Of course, this is with an AT&T connection. The tablet will probably be offered for sale in two ways – subsidized and unsubsidized. As to how much the unsubsidized version will cost, an indication of a floor comes from Steve Jobs who said “we don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk.”

Based on the different rumors out there (from supposed insiders, analysts, newspapers and websites) and on general logic, we think the tablet will be more expensive than an iPhone but less than a Macbook. This gives us a range of $700-$900. Something else we heard is that the delay in release is due to an OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) upgrade that will push the price up to $1500. If there is any truth to that, it will probably be an optional feature.

How big will it be?

Again, a lot of different opinions. Apple reportedly told publishers it’s “small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket.” The Wall Street Journal said it’s “smaller than [Apple's] current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod Touch.” Some people say its 7 inches, others say 9.6 inches, 10 inches and we’ve also heard a 10.7 inches rumor.

The only one who knows is Apple, and we’ll stick with a range of 7 to 11 inches. I know we’re not sticking our necks out, but there’s really no indications at all to go on.

What will it be like?

This is probably the most important of all our questions and it depends on what operating system the tablet will be loaded with. We’ve heard that iPhone application developers have been asked to up the resolution of their products which indicates that it will be the iPhone OS.

There’s some excitement in the newspapers, websites and media space. Some publishers have been saying that it will revolutionize the way we read our news, browse and read (books). Makes sense, considering that the the Kindle was the highest selling product on amazon this christmas.

How will this impact netbooks?

Apple has shown that consumers are willing to pay a (much) higher price for a product that is significantly better (and cooler!) than others. Going by past trends, we’re pretty sure whatever Apple releases is going to be quite popular with the masses. Will this bite into netbook sales though? Well, our view is that it will impact sales somewhat but more dangerous will be the effect it has on the notebook market. Netbook sales (apparently) grew by over a 100% in 2009, whereas notebook sales stayed about constant. Whatever Apple releases will have higher capabilities than netbooks do, and will be in a much higher price range (double the cost of a netbook). It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s bound to feel more threatened.

Final Thoughts

All these rumors are to be taken with a pinch of salt. While we’re quite sure Apple is going to be releasing something, we’re man enough to admit that we don’t know exactly what it is! In all probability, it will be a smashing success and something that makes a large impact on the mobile computing market as a whole.

Filed under: Apple Netbook Review, Netbook