First published: 23rd of December 2009 for Technorati
The Interweb has been ablaze with tablet rumors for quite some time now and according to a recent Financial Times article, “Apple is preparing an announcement next month that many anticipate will be the official unveiling…”
Despite the swirling rumors, Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge the existence of such a device.
Backing up the Financial Times, Silicon Valley Insider (SVI) suggests that Apple is indeed preparing for a demo of a new mobile device with screen resolutions greater than the current iPhone and iPod Touch. Additionally, SVI reports that Apple has asked a select group of software developers to recast their apps and that “they’ve told select developers that as long as they build their apps to support full screen resolution — rather than a fixed 320×480 — their apps should run just fine.”
However, SVI suggests that the device itself won’t be ready to purchase until sometime in March, supposedly providing remaining software developers time to incorporate the tablet’s specifications into their current and future planned releases.
Meanwhile, Appleinsider reports that Gene Munster, a market research analyst with Piper Jaffray, has issued a note to investors suggesting that he expects the long-rumored tablet device to ship by March. However, while Jaffray believes there’s a 75% chance of some sort of announcement planned for January – maybe an iPod touch with camera and video or a new TV subscription service for iTunes – the odds of a January announcement for a new tablet are 50-50.
Traditionally, Apple has used the first full week in January to publicly debut new hardware and software, most notably being the iPhone in 2007 during the keynote speech at Macworld. However, at the 2009 Macworld, Apple announced that their strategy would no longer hinge on major events and that the 2009 Macworld would be the last one in which the company would particiapte in. This fact, along with the false rumors of Steve Jobs speaking at the Consumer Electronics Association’s event in January, might suggest that Apple intends to delay announcement of the long-awaited tablet until it is actually ready for shipment.
As with all Apple announcements and rumors, consumers, analysts, media-types, industry watchers and brand-enthusiasts will just have to wait and wonder.