Tablet Mac incoming! Apple’s prepped an ultra-smart tablet Mac, and it’ll be here in just over six months. The ultimate portable mac, and a remote for your house?...
At least two Taiwanese manufacturers are now vying for the production rights to Apple’s latest product, after the Mac maker put the finishing touches to a working prototype for its much-anticipated tablet computer.
Manufacturers Quanta and Hon Hai Precision Industry are both bidding for the new device, and have both signed confidentiality agreements over the existence of a tablet Mac.
That’s according to rumour hungry home interest websites, who say the product is now on track for a mid-2007 release.
According to the latest claims, the tablet can act as the ultimate home remote, as well as a fully functional tablet computer.
In addition to controlling iTV and other Apple products, the tablet Mac has been designed to control third party devices too. That explains Apple’s remote control patents, and its recent obsession with touch screens.
As well as handling home entertainment, the new device could also master automated lighting and security systems, including video feeds from household security cameras.
According to the Apple fans over at Smarthouse, the tablet also has applications outside the home. Presentations can be delivered using the tablet to provide source material to the presenter which differs to that on the big screen, a function already supported in Apple’s own Keynote software.
Built around Intel processors, the tablet will reportedly ship with a dedicated docking station, funnelling a signal to HDMI-enabled screens.
What’s more, we understand the docking station packs memory of its own, as well as wireless capability, so content from the tablet or other computers in the house can be sent to the big screen. If that doesn’t sound like iTV, we don’t know what does, and it would explain what plugs in to its mysterious USB socket.
Fingers crossed for more info when iTV hits the stage at Macworld 2007. Will Hon Hai Precision Industry have begun production by then? Its subsidiary Foxconn has already scooped the contract for 12 million iPhones, is the Mac tablet next?
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