Hasta La Gadget!

Okay, we’re pretty sure Apple’s going to announce a tablet tomorrow, and now we’re pretty sure it’ll be running some version of the iPhone OS. (Thanks, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw!) But the one thing we don’t have any inkling about — even after nearly 10 years of rumors — is what this thing is going to be called. Sure, there are some trademark applications floating around, and even some crowd favorites, but arguably the single biggest surprise coming tomorrow is what Steve Jobs has decided to officially name his mythical tablet. Honestly, we have no idea — so we’re putting it to you. Let’s run down the main contenders:

• iTablet: The most obvious name, but Amtek’s had the US trademark since 2006 and has been selling the various actual devices like the iTablet T221 (pictured above) under the brand for a while. Of course, trademark issues have clouded Apple product launches before, so anything’s possible.
• iSlate: Popped up in some trademark and domain name filings a while back and then applied for in the US by a shady company called Slate Computing, LLC that only seems to exist on paper. The registration can’t be granted until the USPTO receives an example of the name being used in commerce, and that hasn’t happened yet.
• iPad: The least likely, and only because Apple’s had the most to directly do with it. Fujitsu sold a Windows CE-based iPad retail handheld for a few years, but let the trademark application lapse until June of this year. When the USPTO published the application for review by other mark holders, Apple stepped in and filed an opposition, presumably because “iPad” sounds too much like “iPod.” That’s the only real claim Apple has, as far as we can see — it can’t just oppose the registration because Steve wants to call it the “iPad” really bad. And if he does, all he’s got to do is pay Fujitsu some of the billions in cash Apple has lying around — so why tip his hand with the USPTO filing?
• Slate: The NYT’s Bill Keller referred to it as “the impending Apple slate.” Maybe he meant it as a proper noun?
• Canvas: Panic’s Cabel Sasser tweeted this after the paint-spattered “latest creation” invite went out. It’s certainly nice, but there’s no evidence that it’s real at all.
• Tablet: The Apple Tablet. Might as well at this point, right?

So — what’s it going to be?

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Poll: So… what’s the Apple tablet going to be called? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Terry McGraw, the chief executive of McGraw-Hill & Co., appears to have let the cat out of the bag, confirming the existence of the Apple tablet on national TV.

Appearing on CNBC following the company’s earnings call, McGraw was asked about the possibility about putting his company’s materials on the Apple tablet. It’s the kind of question journalists ask, without really expecting to get an answer, especially one being broadcast live to millions of people.

Pay dirt. And not just a vague confirmation, but even a spec!

“Yes, very exciting. Very exciting. They’ll make their announcement tomorrow, on this one,” McGraw said. “We have worked with Apple for quite a while, and their — the tablet will be based on the iPhone operating system, and so it will be transferable. So what you’re going to be able to do now– we have a consortium of ebooks, and we have 95 percent of our all materials that are in ebook format on that one so now with the tablet you’ll going to open up that market the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”

McGraw’s confirmation itself confirms that the tablet will be an e-reader of a sort, and targeted at the vertical markets.

The Apple quote begins at just about 2:48 in the clip, after the jump.

We’re sure everyone in Cupertino is ordering Chinese to the office this evening; it’s going to be a late night. I’s to dot, T’s to cross, as they say, in preparation for what’s undoubtedly going to be a big day tomorrow. Of course, consistently burning the candle at both ends leads to mistakes — mistakes like this, for example: a placeholder on the signup form for Apple’s iPhone Developer Program (that we’ve been able to confirm) reading “Need to update this for the 27th launch.” 27th launch, indeed — so what does this mean? If we had to guess, devs are going to get first crack at an updated iPhone OS — something the company has done before — which is suddenly going to make the $99 sign-up fee for the program sound a whole lot more reasonable for the impatient among us, isn’t it?

Apple’s iPhone dev program whoopsie: ‘Need to update this for the 27th launch’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola will showcase new MotoBlur device during commercials.

In addition to launching its tablet Wednesday, Apple will likely introduce a new programming solution for iPhone developers to easily tablet-enable their apps.

Developers polled by Wired said they expected additions to Apple’s software-development kit that would help make iPhone apps work at any resolution, for full-screen support on the rumored device.

But how will that work? The tablet will likely support all iPhone apps out of the box in their current 480-by-320 resolution. These apps will probably be able to run in the background, perhaps in separate windows. It’s unlikely they’re going to automatically maximize to fill up the tablet’s screen, which is rumored to be 10 inches diagonally, developers polled by Wired.com agreed, because that would result in a blurry, pixelated mess — not Apple’s style.

Therefore, it’s likely that Apple will offer a quick workaround for developers to rescale their apps for full-screen tablet support.

For people who buy the tablet, that means we’ll see a slightly bifurcated world of apps. We’ll be able to access all iPhone apps in small windows, and some of those apps will be resizable to fit the tablet’s larger screen.

“It’s easy to imagine how Apple might offer tools to make it easy for me to not have to make all my graphics from scratch,” said Bart Decrem, CEO of Tapulous, developer of the popular iPhone rhythm game Tap Tap Revenge. “That’s one of the things I’d be on the lookout for.”

“We’ve made a big investment,” he continued. “People have made huge investments in their games. I’d expect Apple to accelerate the process of having lots and lots of apps that feel native and migrate from a fixed-resolution world to resolution independent.”

Decrem said he could not comment on whether Tapulous would be appearing as a presenter at Apple’s Jan. 27 event in San Francisco, where the Cupertino, California, company is rumored to be launching a tablet. Tapulous appeared in the recent September iPod event to present a new game, Riddim Ribbon.

Multiple independent reports agree on the physical description of Apple’s tablet: a blown-up iPhone or iPod Touch with a 10-inch screen. But the software experience has remained a mystery. Offering a glimmer of insight, The New York Times just a day before Apple’s product event has published a bold report claiming the tablet would support all 100,000 iPhone and iPod Touch apps currently in the App Store.

“It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print,” NY Times wrote.

Corroborating NY Times‘ report, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw said in a live TV interview that McGraw was developing e-book content for the Apple tablet. He explained that the tablet’s OS was based on the iPhone OS, meaning McGraw’s e-book iPhone apps will be easily portable to the tablet.

Other iPhone developers polled by Wired agreed that Decrem’s theory was solid. They said the SDK needed to be updated with new tools streamlining migration to the upcoming tablet. Jeff Meininger, iPhone developer of Snaptic, said Decrem’s proposed solution regarding resolution-independence would work.

“It would be the simplest and most effective way to be able to support all iPhone apps,” Meininger said. “It’s absolutely technically feasible.”

David Castelnuovo, developer of the immensely popular iPhone game Pocket God, said it was likely Apple would offer some new sizability code in the iPhone SDK with the tablet in mind. But he said it wouldn’t be a blanket solution for all 100,000 apps in the App Store.

Pocket God, for example, is game that involves torturing pygmies on an island, and it would have to be redesigned for a tablet with a bigger island and more pygmies, Castelnuovo said. So, some quick and easy sizability code will likely accelerate full-screen tablet support for form-based apps such as Facebook. For games or apps with more complex interfaces, it could take more thoughtful tweaking.

“Ideally we wouldn’t want to just scale [Pocket God],” Castelnuovo said. “We’d want to make the world bigger.”

Just how big a portion of the App Store will support full-screen tablet resolution will be up to the developers. Appcelerator, a company that helps developers build cross-platform mobile apps, polled 554 developers on their interest in coding for the tablet. 51 percent of respondents said it would be “very important” for them to port iPhone apps for the tablet “in a simple, easy fashion without too much cost or delay.” Thirty percent responded “Somewhat important” and 19 percent responded “Not important.”

It remains a question whether Apple will launch an entire section in its App Store for tablet apps. Decrem said he doubts that, because all iPhone apps will work with the tablet. He said it’s realistic that developers will state in their apps’ descriptions whether they feature full tablet support.

We’ll find out soon. Stay tuned on Gadget Lab for full, live coverage of Apple’s tablet event, which kicks off 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday.

See Also:

• What to Expect From Apple’s Tablet Unveiling
• Everything We Know About Apple’s Touchscreen Tablet
• Apple ‘Tablets’ Sniffed by Analytics Are More Likely iPhones
• Designers Unearth Apple Tablet Prototypes — From 1983
• Tablet Wars: Amazon Adds Apps to Kindle
• Is an Apple Tablet on the Way? Orange Exec Says ‘Oui’
• OLED Could Be Apple Tablet’s Secret Solution for E-Reading
• Rumor: Apple Event to Highlight iPhone OS 4.0 in Addition to …
• Will the Apple Tablet Be Called iPad?
• Apple Invitation Confirms Special Product Event Jan. 27
• iGuide and iSlate — Two Potential Name Candidates for an Apple …
• Apple Bought iSlate.com — Perhaps for a Tablet?
• Approaching January, Apple Tablet Rumors Run Wild
• In-App Sales and iTablet: The Killer Combo to Save Publishing …
• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com
• Large-Screen Kindle Won’t Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives …
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• Rumor: Back at Work, Jobs Cracks the Whip on Tablet Designers …
• Insider Spills Rumored Apple Tablet Details to Gizmodo

A mockup of an imaginary Apple tablet: Stephen Lewis Simmonds