Apple Tablet Rumor Round-up

Posted in rumormongering on Jan 26th, 2010 | no responses

This post alone could take up the entirety of the front of any major news site if one wanted to go into even half of the details of the variety of rumors out there, but we’re not going to do that. Instead, consider this a rapid-fire presentation of recent rumors in light of tomorrow’s big event (anyone else going to be watching Leo and co. as they cover it?). So, without further ado, let the rounding-up begin. Oh, and we’re not bothering with the little crap like playing the name guessing game.

* First off is what’s on every site right now: McGraw-Hill’s CEO spilling the beans on the tablet. Terry McGraw, CEO, said, “And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable.” Boy Genius Report questions whether this was intentional dissemination or not, but I’m guessing it’s not. It’s just too close to the media event to make sense and takes some of the guessing (and fun) out of what the actual product is if this is true (although I’ve long believed it’d run on a modified iPhone OS). McGraw goes on to further say that it’s basically going to be one hell of an ebook reader and that he’s quite excited about it. It’s about time traditional publishing got a kick in the butt to get them in line with the rest of the world…

* Claims came out just a couple days ago that AT&T would be losing its US exclusivity on the iPhone and that one could expect to see a CDMA iPhone, and thus, tablet, some time in the near future. However, these claims are unfounded and still a little uncertain, and Mac Rumors covers this: “The question of what carrier or carriers would offer wireless data access for Apple’s tablet device, should it offer the connectivity as many expect, similarly remains shrouded in uncertainty. Reports dating back many months have claimed that Apple has been working with Verizon on the tablet project, with more recent reports continuing to hint at such a possibility. Boy Genius Report even reported yesterday that Verizon is holding a quarterly update meeting with its store managers tomorrow, with staff expected to view a “live webcast” scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern time, coinciding with Apple’s media event.” Anyone want to guess what’s going to happen? I’m with the AT&T-is-no-longer-exclusive camp, but I think it may not be until summer.

* Lastly, even though this could go on for hours, is what the damn thing will look like. There’s been a variety of mock-ups, fakes, and out-right guesses going around, but this most recent one seems like it may actually come pretty close. Take a look and see if you agree.