Apple tablet computer ‘on sale by March’

Apple fans are salivating over their iPhones today following reports that the high-end computer company is planning to announce a brand new multimedia device later in January, before shipping it to retailers in March.

The reports fall short of an admission by Apple that the new device - dubbed variously the iTablet, iPad and iSlate - actually exists, but the Wall Street Journal claims people "briefed" by Apple say it will have a 10 to 11 inch touchscreen.

These dimensions pitch the new Apple tablet squarely into the highly competitive 'netbook' market - or it would if the price, at a rumoured £600, was not double the normal price for one of these lightweight, low-spec laptops. The only other tantalising detail is that there will be at least two different finishes for the new product. Whether this means the tablet will be sold at two different prices or simply different colours is anyone's guess.  

Rumours about a supposed Apple tablet surface regularly on the internet, but evidence has been piling up in support of an early 2010 launch. The WSJ's "late-January" announcement is echoed by a report on All Things Digital, claiming Apple is planning a "product announcement" on January 27.

Last month, another report by the Wall Street Journal on a move by book publishers to delay publication of ebooks by several months following the release of hardbacks, led observers to suggest that it was a ploy to take advantage of a supposed April launch of an Apple tablet.

The WSJ is part of Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corporation, which in turn is one of five media giants that have formed a consortium to "prepare print publications for a new generation of digital devices" - another development presumed to be aimed at taking advantage of an Apple tablet device.

Whenever the Apple tablet eventually arrives, it is difficult not to see the timing of this announcement through the proxy of the WSJ as being linked to the buzz generated over the Christmas holidays when Google announced the imminent arrival of their new 'Googlephone', the Nexus One. Now, what's happened to Microsoft? ·