tablet

Steve Jobs announced a brand new product with some impressive specifications today. The long-awaited tablet is named the iPad and sports a 9.7 inch IPS LED capacitive touch screen. Apple has redesigned the operating system and of course included multi-touch on the new device.

Fast response times and sharp graphics are made possible by a custom processor, the Apple A4 chip running at 1 GHz. The iPad will come with built in flash memory with different models carrying between 16GB and 64GB of storage.

For the second straight quarter, Apple has blown away analyst forecasts to post record revenues. Net income in Q4 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008 jumped 50% to a record $3.4 billion.

Apple's overall sales are up 32% to a record $15.7 billion. Analysts had predicted the company would make $12.1 billion in sales. New accounting laws made it possible for Apple to report iPhone and Apple TV revenues immediately instead of having to spread them out over the length of a consumer's contract.

Next Wednesday Apple will announce several new products at its special media event in San Francisco. Pictured is the invitation the company sent out to selected media outlets today.

Sources inside Apple have reportedly confirmed that iPhone OS version 4.0 will be announced along with a new touch screen tablet computing device. In addition, Apple will be announcing iLife 2010 software that will support multi-touch.

Apple tablet watchers have completely bypassed CES 2010 in anticipation of the company's special event at the end of this month. More evidence is mounting that Apple will announce the tablet and begin selling the product during the second quarter.

According to Reuters, AVY Precision Technology begins manufacturing aluminum casings for the tablet computer body in February. Two other Taiwanese companies, Wintek and TPK Solutions, are both said to be shipping 10-inch touch screens to Apple.

With descriptions of the upcoming Apple tablet's user interface featuring words like "awesome" and "surprising" it's possible some patents filed by the company have been used in the device.

Plans for a tactile feedback virtual keyboard describe buttons and frames that would pop up when keys are displayed and retract under the surface at other times. This would make typing on an on-screen tablet keyboard feel much more like typing on a standard keyboard.

Save the date because on January 26, 2010 Steve Jobs will be making the product announcement everyone has been waiting for at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. This is according to ex-Google China president Kai-Fu Lee.

Lee stated that the Apple tablet will look like a large iPhone with a 10-inch screen, 3D graphics and a price under $1000. He claims that Apple plans to manufacture 10 million of the devices in 2010.

New information has surfaced indicating that Apple will market the 10-inch tablet computer as an e-book reader in 2010. The latest buzz surrounding the device focuses on domains and trademarks registered indirectly by Apple such as iSlate.

However, if the Apple tablet indeed has its own App Store specifically for e-books, magazines and newspapers, why not revive the iBook name? With the iTunes platform Apple has already changed the face of digital music, and has recently moved into distributing film and television content.

Apple's legendary tablet device took a step closer to reality this week. Chinese component manufacturers have reported large orders from Apple for key parts of a touch-screen tablet computer.

According to DigiTimes, Innolux (a subsidiary of Foxconn) and Wintek will be producing 10-inch screens for Apple and could deliver them as early as March 2010. Wintek is currently Apple's main iPhone display manufacturer.

Hope you're sitting down, folks. Take a look at the pictured SIM card trays below. Finally we have unequivocal proof the Apple tablet exists!

China Ontrade is the same company that brought us the iPhone 3GS bezel before the new iPhone was actually released. Only problem is that the bezel pictured had nothing to do with the iPhone 3GS. So file this 4th generation iPhone SIM card tray under ridiculous waste of time.

So much for the Apple touch pad / HD video movie / Cocktail music media / netbook killer / iPad tablet running Snow Leopard. The latest "scoop" from an "insider" points to a device more focused on movies, music and email than actual computing. iPhone OS anyone?

According to a "tip" from a "reliable source" the new Apple device is scheduled to be announced in January and will hit store shelves a few months later. Retail price? Could be too expensive for a glorified iPod Touch.