Is the Apple tablet to be called iSlate?

David Heath
Tuesday, 29 December 2009 15:33

Your IT - Home IT

The evidence, although entirely circumstantial, points to iSlate as the chosen name for Apple's upcoming tablet product.

The recent prediction of a January 26th launch for the Apple tablet computer is looking more and more confident.  A variety of Internet detectives have helped to bring together more information that suggests the name and a web site for the product.

Back in late 2007, Apple purchased the website name iSlate.com but neglected to obscure the fact for a few weeks.  An enterprising sleuth noticed the information and grabbed a screenshot; MacRumors has a copy.  Soon after, the site ownership was hidden behind a San Francisco-based ownership obfuscation company called DNStination, whilst site ownership was claimed by MarkMonitor a registration proxy company.  TechCrunch also reports a variety of registered URLs around the world.

There are also suggestions that Apple has taken control of the iSlate trademark in USA and Europe.

Talk of the possible alliances that such a tablet may need in order to find a niche always end up focussing on content.  A couple of months ago, Bill Keller, New York Times Executive Editor (perhaps) let slip the name in an internal company presentation (fast-forward to 8:30 for the quote).  "I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."

Content is crucial.  There have been a large number of reports that suggest Apple has done deals with TV content providers in order to ensure the tablet is properly supplied,. But is content enough?  No matter what the content, people still need to buy the device (in the hope they get access to the content they desire).

With bated breath, we await January 26th for a slate, a tablet or something entirely unexpected; we await the word of the Jobs.