Asus confirms Apple slate tablet on the way?

While debate rages on in regards to the death of the slate UMPC, the rumors of an Apple slate Tablet continue on as well. Only this time, there's actually a source that's credible: Asus. That's what Crave is suggesting based on conversations with Asus, who is a large manufacturer for Apple.

"We checked back with our source at Asus on a different day and they confirmed that the Apple Tablet will not be based on existing Asus designs such as the R1. It will come from a completely new blueprint, possibly based on the patent Apple filed back in May 2005. We're guessing it'll be based on Intel Core architecture, a tweaked version of Leopard, and have all the multi-touch, CoverFlow goodness we've seen in the iPhone and iPod touch."

It certainly wouldn't surprise me when a large portion of the hardware and software components are out there; not to mention the various patents waiting to see light of day. The unanswered questions then are: will it have a virtual, on-screen keyboard like the iPhone? Maybe, but what works on a handheld device doesn't always equate perfectly on a larger device. Will Inkwell rise again or is there some new handwriting recognition project going on in Cupertino. For that matter, will there even be handwriting recognition on such a device?

Comments

[Lorie Ghamy]

If an Apple slate is as good as my iPhone with Inkwell, my Samsunq Q1 and his crapy Windows interface will be good for ebay or charity center.

Actually, i'm always in tne moove with the iPhone and less with the Q1.

[John in Norway]

If it comes with a 6-7 inch screen, an OS that is designed for inking, good ink to text, is light, is powerful, an active digitizer, Office compatibility, a Onenote type program, a Journal type program, is a good price, has excellent battery life - then I might consider it (as long as I don't have to become a Steve Jobs droid). Otherwise I'll stick with my OQO which is already here and does almost everything I want.

[Mr. Crash]

Crap that would be right - I just got a new laptop...

Oh well, this thing is more of a desktop replacement - so I'll just end up using it as this if Apple puts something out like this...

If they do it soon - they'll sell their first device to me :-) In it's 2nd iteration of course.