Apple tablet rumours return

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 14 July 2009 08:01

Opinion and Analysis

There's been a resurgence of rumours about an Apple 'tablet' computer. The device is being tipped to arrive in October, in time for the holiday buying season.

According to a China Times report, the Apple tablet will use a 9.7in touchscreen from Wintek.

The report also suggests the device will be manufactured by Hon Hai (Foxconn) rather than Quanta (which builds MacBooks).

According to VentureBeat, the tablet's CPU is being designed by PA Semi, which Apple acquired in April 2008. The story then backpedals slightly, noting that "It seems fairly early for PA Semi's team to be finishing a chip for launch in a product debuting in the fall."

The tablet is expected to cost around $US800. That's more expensive than most netbooks - but then Apple has previously made clear its distaste for that market. Last year, Jobs famously noted "We don't know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk."

There's still plenty of room for speculation.

Although I've been referring to a tablet, the China Times report is far from clear about the form factor: is the device going to be a tablet or a more conventional clamshell design? Using a touch screen on a hinged display could be problematic. A third possibility is a convertible design as used on some Windows-based tablets.

Another question is whether the device will run Mac or iPhone system software.

There have been reports that the latest beta of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is more 'touch friendly' than its predecessors.

However if VentureBeat is right about the PA Semi designed processor, that would imply the ARM architecture as used in iPhones and the iPod touch.

Since Snow Leopard finally gets Mac OS X back onto a single hardware platform (Intel), it seems unlikely that Apple would want to start supporting another processor.

If the tablet does run iPhone OS, it would present a new challenge for developers who have so far been able to code their applications for a single screen resolution. A larger screen would also present fresh opportunities.