Apple Tablet FAQs: every question answered

Absolutely everything you need to know about Apple's rumoured tablet device

Q. What is the Apple Tablet?A. Rumour points to Apple working on a large iPod touch device with extended computing functionality. This would make it similar to the PC Tablet devices.

Q. Why are there so many rumours about an Apple tablet?A. The mythological Apple tablet has a long and distinguished history in Apple folklore.

In May 2001, Kevin Fox, a lead designer at Google said on his blog: "at least five times in the past 10 years engineers at Apple have worked on initiatives to bring a full sized tablet-based computer to market. Though the previous four attempts never saw the light of day, Apple has saved the best for last. This July: Meet iPad".

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Q. What is the Apple Tablet?A. Rumour points to Apple working on a large iPod touch device with extended computing functionality. This would make it similar to the PC Tablet devices.

Q. Why are there so many rumours about an Apple tablet?A. The mythological Apple tablet has a long and distinguished history in Apple folklore.

In May 2001, Kevin Fox, a lead designer at Google said on his blog: "at least five times in the past 10 years engineers at Apple have worked on initiatives to bring a full sized tablet-based computer to market. Though the previous four attempts never saw the light of day, Apple has saved the best for last. This July: Meet iPad".

That was over eight years ago, and rumours and myths of an Apple tablet have been circulating ever since. If true Apple has been working on a tablet PC in some form or another for 18 years now.

Q. Why would Apple want to release a Tablet now?A. The tablet rumour really returned en-masse when netbook-style computers arrived on the scene. Ever since Asus kicked off the market with its EeePC, Apple has been under pressure from its customers to create a lower cost computing option than the MacBook for lightweight work (email, surfing the web, and so on).

Apple has been quite dismissive of netbooks, and Tim Cook, Apple COO, did comment that the iPod touch was a great way to go about these things. However, demand for a netbook-alternative has never really abated.

There's no denying that customer demand for cheaper computing is driving down the price of laptops, but that doesn't mean Apple has to follow suit. Steve Jobs dismissed netbooks saying "we don't know how to make a sub $500 computer that isn't junk" but also tellingly said: "We'll wait and see how that nascent category evolves," he said. "And we've got some pretty interesting ideas if it does evolve."

The rise of the netbook is coupled with a rise in the popularity of ebook readers (another device that Steve Jobs was famously dismissive of).

Although these remain relatively niche, Apple may believe that it can build a tablet that out-performs both netbooks and ebooks.

Q. What does Apple have to say on this?A. It's fair to say that all the rumours have come from every source but Apple itself. In 2003, Steve Jobs told the Wall Street Journal, "There are no plans to make a tablet people want keyboards. We look at the tablet and we think it is going to fail."

But Steve Jobs' protestations have never stopped the rumour machine grinding its corn. Not least of which because Apple continuously applies for patents regarding touch screen interfaces, gesture controls, and devices without keyboards. As recently as last month an Apple patent involving online media distribution additions to iTunes (effectively books, magazines, and newspapers) have kept the Apple Tablet rumour alive.

Q. Could it all be smoke and mirrors?A. When the iPhone launched in 2007 (and the iPod touch shortly afterwards) it was generally felt that the tablet rumours were off the mark after all. All the patents and planning had really been geared towards the iPhone, and subsequently the iPod touch. You didn't have to look far to find Apple's touch screen computer. It just turned out be pocket-sized.