More Apple Tablet Rumblings

With increased interest in Apple across the web, rumors are distributed at a faster rate frequently without much attention paid to credibility or records.

The most recent is a blog entry claiming that an Apple Tablet is imminent and that prototypes have been sighted running "a reduced version of OSX, with some funky start-up PDA like Apple icon menu." This report has been reposted a number of places around the web.

Obviously, this is not the first time that the Apple Tablet rumor has surfaced, but does provide a good opportunity to recap recent tablet evidence.

This blog post claims that the Intel-Apple rumors are surrouding the use of an Intel processor for an upcoming Apple Tablet. Tablet rumors have been popular over the years with the demise of the Newton. Apple Tablet rumors hit a peak in early 2003 when several credible sources strongly hinted at the imminent release of a Mac-based Tablet design from Apple.

More recently, Apple's patent design application for a tablet computer reawoke the tablet rumors. One interesting observation, however, is that in the past, Apple has only applied/received design patents for current shipping devices. Suggesting that the Tablet may have been delayed from initial launch plans or indeed imminent.