Tablet Hype and Rumors: Jobs and Cook, Carriers, and iPhone Apps

As Apple's media event quickly approaches, the flurry of rumors continue to pour in. First off, both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook of Apple have been building the hype for their product announcement on Wednesday. In Apple's PR release, Steve Jobs describes the release of a "major new product that that we're really excited about."

During the Q&A session of today's financial results conference call, Tim Cook teased that he "wouldn't want to take away your joy and surprise on Wednesday" when questioned about their upcoming products.

One analyst now claims that Apple may allow all U.S. Carriers to sell the iPhone:

T-Mobile USA Inc. will get the phone this summer, followed by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the fall, and Clearwire Corp. in 2011, Horan wrote in a note yesterday. AT&T Inc. has been the exclusive carrier since the iPhone debuted in June 2007.

This report leads to one possible interpretation of the Apple invitation with colors lining up with the brands of major carriers:


It may be a simple coincidence, but makes for an eye catching possibility.

Finally, the NYTimes now reports that the new Tablet will run current iPhone and iPod Touch Apps.

It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.

If true, this would consistent with a report from analytics company Flurry which claimed they detected up to 50 presumed-to-be tablet devices running their iPhone apps.