“Okay, we obviously can’t confirm this, but we just got two very interesting images of what certainly looks like a prototype Apple tablet, or what could be the tablet bolted down to a table,” Nilay Patel repots for Engadget.
“Its [screen is] big — really big — and it’s running what clearly looks like an iPhone app, although we’ve never seen an iPhone app with that interface or at that resolution before,” Patel reports. “We also see a WiFi icon and a cell service indicator, although tragically there’s no carrier listed.”
Patel reports, “As far as fakes go, this is as convincing as it gets, so either this is the real deal or someone deserves a hearty congratulations.”
Full article, with more info and larger images, here.
MacDailyNews Note: If these images are genuine, we are not seeing (much of) the device’s actual case, but rather the bulky surrounding security housing that bolts the unit down to the table.
not fake..is my opinion
Apple wouldn’t make something that ugly lol all shall be revealed later I guess ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
If this is it, I hope it’s in a case of some kind. Maybe an alarm will go off if you take it out of the room. Screws showing == not an Apple product, so I think that’s logical. Maybe the white boxes cover incriminating details.
How many companies have to protect their upcoming products like this?!?
@_Bill_
“Screws showing == not an Apple product. . . .”
Could well be just bolted to a table so I won’t mysteriously disappear afterwards!
Way too fugly to be the real thing.
It’s gonna be the release of ‘OS XP’
All the power of OS X, with all the viruses of XP!
Puh.
That is the real thing folks bolted down to a table. So a front facing camera is confirmed. I hope it is more than just an oversized iPod touch with UI enhancements for data entry and eBook reading.
Doesn’t look like Jonathan Ive had anything to do with this design. Looks way to industrial. Maybe this is the military spec of the product line. Certainly doesn’t look too user friendly.
I must say, I have, for a very long time, ‘poo-poo’d’ the possibility of an Apple tablet; I thought it was just a figment of several ‘anal-ysts’ / prognosticator’s imagination… perhaps I was wrong.
There seems to be an increasing confluence of circumstantial evidence that would indicate that it does indeed exist. I admit it. I was probably wrong. But then again, I tend to prefer hard facts above rumor, speculation and conjecture. May I have some ketsup (ketchup / catsup / et al) with my hat / crow?
We’ll definitely find out in a few hours.
Ketsup & hat / crow will be on standby…
It’s clearly a prototype unit…
can’t help but see a half clickwheel there
I think that’s the real thing, bolted to the table. Fakes are everywhere, but I think this one’s a winner. We’ll know soon enough.
@Bill & JES42
Automotive designers are *notorious* for attempting to disguise their cars while they undergo track testing. They do this because they know that there are ‘auto paparazzi’ trying to sneak photos of vehicles that are in development.
This may very well be a similar type of situation
If real , the frame is a dummy frame designed to conceal real features. Basically Apple’s way of saying to all the leeches that want to spoil the party – Fuck you all.
It looks again, like an oversized iPhone.That is TOO OBVIOUS.
That would be a disappointment if that’s what it really looks like.
I don’t think this is real at all.
nice breeze…
that’s the way to ‘cut to the chase’.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/107300.html
I hope that’s a fake photo cause that thing’s ugly. Much nicer looking tablets at CES.
That be weatherproof case over an LCD-display.
Go to any marina you will find them on many boats that have a GPS.
Leaving the stragglers behind… it’s not bolted to the table but clamped inside a rigid metal box with a sturdy cable lock in the top right.
Looks all glossy (including the surround, ala iMac). The blanked out parts are to hide the reflection of the photographer and his chum leaning over… seems to me that beyond the actual screen area we can expect about a 1.5 inch glossy, flush frame all around (maybe with a thin aluminum ‘lip’ at the extreme edge where the uni-body side edges butt up.
The top central bit looks a bit odd – there seems to be a well in the metal clamp box – perhaps a swivel camera? Or maybe needed for the antenna to function when in this security box.
I know, it’s a copy of Microsofts Big assed table.
Okay everybody. Take a deep breath and read the article again.
It says “prototype,” not “shipping product.”
This photo could be an early proof of concept for Apple tablet technology.
Can’t be it, because ‘the spinning wheel got to go round’….
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary
Some people are missing the point that the big black frame with silver bolts is NOT part of the tablet, but rather a security case.
Gotta be real no one would do something that shows so little in a fake. Or if they would they must be scary people, very scary people.