“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
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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.
lol at all the idiots who think that’s the actual shipping enclosure. Even MDN’s note states it’s a bulky security enclosure to bolt it down to the table. You know, like Apple would use if they wanted someone to be able to use the device without being able to see exactly what it looks like or steal it?
Guys, this is a picture of something that somebody took somewhere! It is nothing more than that. Why do you think that you are the center of the universe?
The bolt thing has to be a security enclosure.
Still I suspect the shipping iTablet might still have a wide bezel (more so than the fake mock ups shown on websites) so that you can hold it without getting fingerprints on the glass (?).
Also a wider bezel might act as shock absorber if you dropped it. How sturdy it has to be as you carry it around has been commented on by various people.
Still I’m sure with Jonathan Ive it’s going to look cool.
Have the guys who who take all of these leaked photos of new gadgets, not just those from Apple, ever owned a decent pocket camera?
Or is there some official Kodak “Blurrycam” model that they all use?
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it’s an apple product…but not sure a tablet…i think it will have multiple features…like a back up pc for i phone exclusively
THE TABLET WAS ON 24 ON MONDAY!
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DISGUISED, YES, BUT IT WAS THERE!
Jack rules!
Right Davewrong, you sure would not want to get fingerprints on the screen of a touch screen tablet! Some of you guys need to spend a little more time with the brain turned ON methinks!
@Davewrong
Hey, why do I want fingerprints on the screen unnecessarily if say I was holding up the Tablet to read a novel? Won’t a wide bezel help?
Then again it might have a thin bezel. I dunno but does my post deserve : “Some of you guys need to spend a little more time with the brain turned ON methinks!”?
I guess when people hide behind false names they sink to unneeded rudeness. Maybe you should attend some kind of counseling or civility class? Maybe you were abuse as a child?
@Davewrong
Hey looking at the real photos now, it does seem to have a wide edge like I said.
So you said “Some of you guys need to spend a little more time with the brain turned ON methinks!” when I said it might have thick edge or bezel.
Where are you now genius??
@Davewrong:
here is Levy in MDN’s article AFTER the launch: “iPad’s bezel isn’t “too wide.” The iPad’s bezel is its handle. It’s where your fingers grip the device without covering the content on the screen, no matter which way you’re holding it. Give Apple some credit; they’re not Microsoft, they think things through.”
and I’m one of the few people to guess that the bezel would be wide BEFORE the launch . Here’s what I said “Still I suspect the shipping iTablet might still have a wide bezel “
And you made fun of me and even called yourself so proudly ‘Davewrong’.
So where the heck are you NOW genius????