Apple Tablet – the rumours so far
31 December 2007 – Way back in 2007, we predicted that the "MacBook Nano" – a Mac-version of the increasingly popular ultra-mobile portable computers– would be big in 2008. Little did we know we would still be talking about it in 2010, and actually be on the brink of seeing the finished product in tablet form. This was also when we mocked up the picture you see accompanying most of our tablet stories, predicting it would pack "Intel processors running a full version of Mac OS X Leopard, and hopefully 32GB or 64GB of flash memory for rugged storage".
13 July 2009 – We finally hear rumours about an Apple netbook in production, due to be announced in October. However, some sources at the time were suggesting said netbook would actually be a tablet-style device. This left us wonder if it meant a netbook-tablet hybrid with a swivel screen, or the tablet form we now expect it to be.
22 July 2009 - Rumours start that Apple had signed up to a carrier for a tablet with built-in 3G, and that Verizon would be the lucky network. This left us wondering if we'd see Vodafone, which owns a chunk of Verizon, would be the carrier over here.
27 July 2009 - We hear some of the first specs – 10-inch screen, iPhone OS and Wifi rather than 3G – and that Apple is aiming for a pre-Christmas release to take on the Amazon Kindle ereader. This is interesting, as we saw a fair bit of tablet-ereader crossover at CES this year.
3 August 2009 - An analyst claims to have gone hands on with the tablet, set for a launch in September and release date of November. He also suggested it would be a great device for gaming and movie-watching in HD, and a compact home media centre.
5 August 2009 - A product listing in the new iPhone 3.1 OS lists a device called the "iProd" – we all hope it's referring to something other than the tablet./
25 August 2009 – News crops up that Steve Jobs binned two previous incarnations of the tablet due to poor battery life and insufficient memory. Even more exciting, Jobs addresses the article suggesting that "much" of the information is wrong. But not all, Steve?
28 August 2009 – Most of the rumours until now had focused around a 10-inch screen, yet Gizmodo got news from a "100% reliable source" that there were also 13- and 15-inch prototypes spotted in factories in China.
3 September 2009 – Sports Illustrated shows off how its content would work on a tablet-esque device in a YouTube video. Does it know something we don't?
15 September 2009 – Whispers from Taiwan suggest the tablet will launch in February 2010, which could still be true, or at least very close to the 26/27 January date being touted around at the moment. We also hear that 10-inch screens are being snapped up in the Far East by Apple, and that it will cost between $799 and $999.
29 September 2009 – News hits that Apple has rehired Michael Tchao, the developer behind Apple's tablet-esque touchscreen PDA, the Newton. Could he be coming on board to help with the tablet?
30 September 2009 – Rumours that the tablet will launch on 19 January, and will be shaped like a blown up iPhone with a 10-inch screen, after a 7-inch screen was tested and deemed too small. It's suggested it will be available from May or June.
26 October 2009 - New York Times' editor causes a stir when he mentions the "impending Apple slate" in an off-the-record chat with his staff about getting the paper's news into various digital channels. However, a sneaky staff member filmed it and put it online.
19 November 2009 – All the rumours we'd been hearing about a pre-Christmas launch seemed unlikely by this point, and then we're told that it had hit delays due to OLED screen shortages.
1 December 2009 – We discover that TabletMac, a trademark once owned by Mac-modders Axiotron, has been transferred over to Apple at some point in the last year. We guess it's to clear the way from any confusion with similarly-named Apple products in the future.
11 January 2010 - Orange France's VP holds an interview with a French TV station, and during it, appears to confirm not only that the tablet exists, but that it is set to launch at the end of the month and that Orange customers will be able to take advantage of its features. Does this mean we could see the tablet being sold through mobile operators on a contract?
12 January 2010 – It didn't take long, and Orange already address the chatter about its VP's apparent tongue slip, saying he was merely addressing the rumours and that his comments had been taken out of context in the translation to English. But other tablet rumours aren't low on the ground today. We also hear that Apple has caused a delay in supply of 10-inch LCD and OLED screens from Asia by snapping them all up for the tablet, and that the aluminium casing for the device is set for delivery next month in line for a Q2 release.
14 January 2010 – A trusted source tells Boy Genius Report that the tablet looks like "an iPhone on steroids", something that ties in with rumours about its design from 30 September, and that it'll be powered by a speedy ARM CPU. There's also whispers it'll run on the iPhone kernal, which has caused a delay in an updated iPhone OS, as it's filled with tablet-related codes that would out details before its launch.
15 January 2010 – The final rumour in our round up is awarded to Apple's lawyers themselves, who targeted Gawker Media's Valleywag blog and their Tablet Scavenger Hunt. The blog was offering money for photos, videos or hands on time with the tablet, which Apple's lawyers took a dislike to. They warned the site against "soliciting photos, video, or a sample of an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product", and in doing so, pretty much confirmed the existence of the tablet. Well done guys - now all we have to do is wait and be patient for the announcement... something it appears from the past two years, we're really not great at.
Make sure you read our live blog from the Apple launch from 5pm on 27 January.
Comments
Drunken Max
2 years ago
I'm sure its all very exciting but lets be honest, anything on steroids tends not to have the gonads to back it up
Verity Burns
2 years ago
Haha, good point well made. I guess we'll have to wait and see...
hillrhys
2 years ago
Let's hope it is announced on the 26th or 27th so that the constant chat of it can stop. This is too much hype, even for Apple.
Snib
2 years ago
10" screen fills the void. The weight has to be just right.
stairmand
2 years ago
You really are the biggest bunch of iTards, so you've gone from a Netbook type devive running OSX to an ARM powered iPhone type tablet.
I can be fairly sure no matter what (if anything) they release Stuff will buy it and declair it's the dogs bollocks before they eventually realise it's not at all what they wanted but it does make them cool so their happy.
Stuff magazine, aka Apple marketing survey magazine.
Verity Burns
2 years ago
Stairmand – thanks for your comments, but all I can say is the story above is simply a round up of the rumours that have circled the industry over the past 18 months, not Stuff's own predictions (apart from the first story from 2007). Read the original stories linked to and you'll see that.
We review an Apple product as critically as any other product and you can be sure we'll be giving you the fully-rounded lowdown on it, as and when we get our hands on it.
Verity
Drunken Max
2 years ago
No true actually as there are lots of comparable products that just don;t get reviewed yet ALL Apple products get reviewed and I wouldn't say objectively (Nano video quality being a stand out example).
"the Nano’s a decent video recorder. True, the 640x480 VGA resolution is low compared to something like the Flip MinoHD, and it’s not the best performer in low-light situations, but overall the Nano’s colourful and fairly detailed pictures are a pleasure.
Besides, the Nano’s video recorder is a bonus, an added extra; the cherry that sits on the whipped cream that in turn sits on the tasty chocolate cake." It then went on to be in a mag issue in the top five of mini cams ( the flipHD wasn't even in it)
Verity Burns
2 years ago
I'd say if we didn't review all of Apple's products there would be a lot more complaints than the other way around – for every one person that isn't interested by them, there's a hell of a lot more that are.
We're obviously not going to please everyone but saying we don't review Apple products objectively would suggest we benefit somewhat from reviewing them in a positive light – something I can assure you is not true.
Verity
stairmand
2 years ago
Yes that was part of my point, Apple have not said anything on this product yet Stuff have published 18 articles in the space of 6 months!!!
I'd also disagree and say most of your Apple reviews are not objective enough. Your iMac review is in laughable and to describe it as "near perfect" is cringworthy. In your top 10's you say the iPod is a better Gaming machine than a DSi and a PSP! Seriously, better at wasting 5 mins on the train tilting a car about but for overall gaming!
Verity Burns
2 years ago
I'd like you to show me another tech site that hasn't also reported on the consistent rumours of the Apple Tablet. It has probably been the biggest "unconfirmed" story since the iPhone - and we can't ignore that.
Certainly, it does therefore seem that Apple products cause more hype than any other, but we don't create the hype, we simply mirror and report on what is being talked about in the tech world. That's our job. And the Apple Tablet has been big news for the past year at least, whether you are interested in it or not.
I am only responsible for the news feed here on Stuff.tv, but will of course pass your opinions of the reviews on to the reviews team.
Verity
Mark Wilson
2 years ago
Just thought I'd comment on our reviews. The iMac review is actually more critical than many of our rival sites (particularly regarding the mouse), and was written by a journalist with a strong background in (and affinity to) Windows computers.
I think it's a fair review and it'd be wrong not to consider the iMac if you're looking for an all-in-one desktop.
The iPod Nano wasn't included in a top five mini cams test – it was in a round-up of nine of the latest pocket camcorders, all newer than the MinoHD (which we'd already reviewed previously). The Nano received four stars, behind the Kodak Zi8, Zoom Q3 and Samsung U10, which we recommended ahead of it if you're looking for a pocket cam.
Also, we do recommend the iPod Touch for bitesize gaming, but state in the same piece that the PSP and DS have the edge on depth. In all cases I think these are fair and balanced summaries of the Apple products' strengths/weaknesses.
Cheers,
Mark
alastairclark
2 years ago
If you guys think that the magazine is biased towards Apple products then the simple answer is to not buy it and not visit this site. The simple fact is that as with ALL mass produced media, these guys are only writing about things that the majority want to read about. I do not think that Stuff is an Apple fanboy mag (as you seem to suggest) and it tends to write very knowledgeably and critically about all of the products it reviews.
As I said if you don't like it then don't buy/visit, no one is holding a gun at your back!!
paw3001
2 years ago
Why do we need this tablet when the iphone will be able to do nearly as much or simply upgrade to a macbook. A tablet - unnecessary
Drunken Max
2 years ago
@alastairclark There are loads and loads of good things about stuff that keep me a subscriber but they do (and sometimes rightly so) sing Apples praises a lot. If you don't like critisism of your precious apple products (using golum voice here)... your problem.
Hugh Jarse
2 years ago
I just wanted to disagree with the comments made by Drunken Max and Stairmand above.
The point is that Apple is an innovator - it initiated the GUI-based home computer market, redefined the mp3 player market, the music download market and the phone market. How many other companies have done that to even one market? That is why there is so much interest in what they produce (or are rumoured to produce). They make innovative, quality products that others frequently imitate. They are therefore newsworthy - end of argument.
Thanks for all your hard work on the website, and I can't wait for the announcement in eight short days ...
Drunken Max
2 years ago
Hugh Jarse, I don't think they can claim to have innovated the gui based home computer market. I'm pretty sure that belongs to MS even if they did pinch the GUI idea off Apple. The music download market? nope. You're stuck with itunes if you have an i-anything. Its a monopoly. Napster et al paved the way on that one. The phone market? probably, though as a phone its not really very good. The ratio of dropped calls is ridiculous compared with other mobiles. Its the itouch part that makes it what it is. To be honest, since the ipod and first all in one imac, they haven't really been that innovative, they've jumped onto existing markets, often doing quite a good job as well though but not really leading the way.
Hugh Jarse
2 years ago
Hi Drunken Max - are you actually drunk? ;-)
It is almost universally acknowledged that Apple introduced the GUI-based home computer. They got the idea for the GUI from a visit to Xerox PARC. Apple were selling GUI-based computers with windows, mice etc long before MS decided that copying that would be an improvement over plain DOS.
By music download market I meant the paid for version rather than the illegal Napster version. Napster definitely started people downloading music, but Apple made the legal version mainstream.
The iPod and iPhone were both products that entered an existing market and redefined them. There were mp3 players before the iPod, but they basically sucked. There were smartphones before the iPhone, but Apple came from nowhere with an OS that was actually easy to use and the established players have been trying to catch up ever since.
Whether you like Apple or not they have at least made their competitors up their game - without them there would be no MS Windows, no usable mp3 players, no easy legal download music services and smartphones would still be niche and unintuitive like they were a few years ago.
Their products at least make everyone else try that bit harder no?
The_Corporal
2 years ago
Actually a man called Douglas Englebart demonstrated a gui he created called NLINE in 1968, some years before even Xerox PARC started working on Smalltalk.
Steve Jobs started work on his gui in 1979.
ted_bones
2 years ago
Why do the comments below any article to do with Apple products always end up being a war of words between Apple-lovers and Windows-PC-lovers? This fanboy banter is both irrelevant and childish. Can't those people involved view a product for its technical capabilities rather than for which fan-base it appeals to? Some of us actually use and enjoy using both Windows-based PCs and Apple-based products at work and at home and get on just fine whatever we use. Why should it matter whether it's an Apple product or not if it does the job for you and you enjoy using it?
Drunken Max
2 years ago
@ted_bones
I suggest you find somewhere more suited to your high level of maturity. Its more banter than a war of words but then you joined in anyway didn't you?
@hugh Jarse, so you agree with what I said then?