Rumors are flying that Apple will introduce their much discussed Apple tablet computer next month. A former Google China president, Kai-Fu Lee, has wrote a post on his blog claiming knowledge of the existence of the tablet.
Apple is predicting production of nearly 10 million units in the first year. As many have predicted–including here on Architosh–the new multi-touch device will look similar to a large iPhone with a 10.1 inch touch screen, a virtual keyboard and support for video-conferencing and e-books.
The tablet will be equipped with sophisticated 3D graphics and according to sources will cost under 1000.USD.
No Macworld Launch
Without Apple’s participation in Macworld Expo 2010 the tech industry is waiting for a planned announcement by Apple at a special event. AppleInsider has reported that Apple has scheduled an event for January 26 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. This actually falls before the “moved-out” new schedule for Macworld Expo.
Apple iPad
No matter what Apple calls its new tablet-based device, some anticipated facts about its features include either a 7 inch or 10.1 inch multi-touch screen with virtual keyboard. The screen resolution will likely be larger than the 320×480 pixel size of the iPod touch and iPhone.
Internally the new tablet device will run a version of the iPhone OS rather than a version of Mac OS X, although both share the same core software technology and OS kernel. Most experts and pundits believe the device will run on an ARM-based microprocessor and this author believes this device will very likely run on the first chip developed by Apple’s PA Semi chip engineering team.