If Apple is hoping to keep a tablet computer unconfirmed until it reveals the product later this month, a comment made Monday by a France Telecom/Orange executive undermines those plans. In a broadcast interview with French television, France Telecom Deputy CEO Stephane Richard confirmed that a tablet is coming.
In the interview, Richard indicated the tablet will include a webcam that offers real-time video streaming. And his answer of “Oui” to a question about whether Orange customers can use it is being taken to mean that the tablet will have 3G connectivity.
Year of the Tablet
France Telecom/Orange sells the iPhone in more than two dozen countries, so Richard’s comment is considered one of the first inside-track, for-attribution confirmations.
The latest rumor is that Apple will unveil the tablet at a major event in San Francisco scheduled for Jan. 27.
Other information is beginning to emerge as well for the product, which may — or may not — be called iSlate. For instance, Reuters reported Friday that, according to unnamed sources, AVY Precision Technology of Taiwan will start tablet production for Apple in February.
With a variety of recent tablet announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the tablet. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed a Windows tablet expected to be manufactured by Hewlett-Packard and be on sale by midyear.
Freescale Semiconductors has unveiled a seven-inch touchscreen tablet that will sell for “under $200” and be offered to OEMs. A variety of other tablets from other manufacturers have also been announced.
While Freescale is touting its tablet as a kind of netbook, the form factor is also being seen as a new generation of the e-book reader. The e-book reader category has been very active recently, including a stream of announcements about Amazon’s Kindle, several…