tablets

It won't be the 10-inch touch-screen display that drives adoption of Apple's rumored tablet computer, but rather the availability of apps for the device, according to one industry analyst.

Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, said in a research note to clients on Monday that initial tablet successes will come from the confidence consumers have with Apple's mobile platform. It is widely expected that Apple will use an iPhone-like operating system on the tablet, enabling consumers to utilize existing apps.

Recent media reports that Apple is asking developers for super-sized versions of their apps is … Read more

Verizon is looking closely at "slate" computers as it plans to expand its portfolio of offerings in 2010.

In an interview, Brian Ullem, who heads emerging devices for Verizon Wireless, discussed slate computers (aka tablets) and Netbooks and what these mean--and could mean--to Verizon's future.

"I do think that slates are going to be emerging in rapid succession in 2010," Ullem told me. "What remains to be seen is how people use them. And the operating systems that manufacturers and carriers will select."

Verizon is looking at the slate computer as an emerging … Read more

Apple's long-rumored tablet may be nearing reality, as new reports of 10-inch display orders came to light on Monday.

The newest Apple tablet information comes from DigiTimes, a site well-known for reporting on Apple rumors. Citing sources from Apple's component suppliers, DigiTimes says that Innolux, a subsidiary of Foxconn, will be the initial supplier of the glass panels to be used in the tablet.

While DigiTimes has a hit or miss record on reporting rumors, it says that Foxconn will manufacture the tablet. That makes perfect sense, since it is the same company that makes many of Apple'… Read more

With all the crystal-ball-watching over the seemingly imminent Apple tablet, one issue hotly debated around the CNET offices, but infrequently mentioned elsewhere, is the hypothetical device's status as a mobile computer.

There are two schools of thought on this: either the Apple tablet (or iSlate, or whatever it ends up being called) will be a 10-or-so-inch tablet PC with a full Mac OS X operating system; or it will merely be a larger-screen version of the current iPod Touch, which has a closed, limited phone-like OS.

The former would mean it could very likely run any software you'd run on a MacBook, from Firefox to Photoshop, and maybe even install Windows 7 via Boot Camp or Parallels. The later points to a hermetically sealed ecosystem, where apps would have to be approved and sold through an official app store (as in iTunes). … Read more

"Sherlock Holmes" is not a wonderful movie. Despite the fact that so many ditheringly unstable people in the movie theater I wandered into on Christmas Day applauded when the final scene slithered away.

However, if you were to ask Robert Downey Jr.'s violently amusing Holmes to tell you discern the truth about the new Apple tablet, he would surely repeat his words from the movie: "Data! Data! Data! I can't make bricks without clay!"

So because there are many who are still groggy after the week's festivities, I thought I'd scour around for data that will separate the rumor from the definitive fact.

Apple's new tablet will be called the iTablet. And it will be launched last September. Yes, last September.

But wait, last September was a few months ago. So perhaps that information wasn't quite correct.… Read more

If the Apple tablet emerges as expected, this will be another big device market, following media players and smartphones, that the PC industry cedes to Apple.

The writing is already on the wall already for Microsoft and smartphones, as spelled out in a previous post and as documented in shrinking market share numbers.

That's not to say that Microsoft, Compaq (later Hewlett-Packard), and Intel didn't have a chance. Remember the Compaq iPAQ PDA that debuted way back in 2000, powered by an Intel StrongARM chip running an early version of Windows Mobile?

That device had a lot of … Read more

The widely rumored Apple tablet, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, has just gotten a little more interesting.

Thanks to some crack reporting, MacRumors.com discovered that Apple purchased the domain for "islate.com" back in 2007.

What we know: islate.com was registered to Apple in 2007, through an intermediary (to disguise its true owner). At the moment, that domain doesn't seem to lead anywhere--and there are a few possible explanations. First, Apple bought it as a protective measure, to stop anyone else from using that "i" prefix with that particular … Read more

Tech stocks typically have to break significant price milestones or have dramatic dips to make CNET's news story queue. Likewise, we try not to hop on the Apple rumor bandwagon unless there's something credible or/and novel to report.

But being as it's Christmas Eve and all, we'll go out on a limb and offer you this nugget anyway. Apple's stock closed Thursday at an all time high of $209.04, up 6.94 points (3.43 percent) in a shortened day of trading on unconfirmed rumors that the company might unveil a long-awaited portable … Read more