Reports that Stephane Richard Of Orange confirmed Apple's tablet in an interview were an issue of the media making French mountains out of gallic molehills, according to the company's PR team. In a statement issued to MocoNews, the company said that Mr. Richard's comments were misinterpreted and taken out of context after being translated into English.

Earlier on Monday, we reported that when asked during the interview if Apple was preparing to launch a tablet computer in the next few days and if it would have a webcam, Mr. Richard responded "Yes" to both questions. He also indicated that Orange subscribers would benefit from the tablet, hinting that his company has some kind of wireless service deal in place with Apple.

That story quickly spread far, wide, hinder, thither, yonder, and yon, which apparently put Orange's PR folks entered into damage control mode.

In a statement issued to MocoNews, the company said, "These responses in no way reflect Orange's confirmation of the existence of the rumored device. The spokesperson was merely confirming that he is aware of the speculation surrounding a launch and that Orange would be delighted to have such a product were it ever to be available."

In other words, his "Oui!" responses were more about acknowledging both the excitement surrounding Apple's tablet, and the fact that his customers would be, how do you say, très excité if such a device were to be released. Under no circumstances, however, should him saying "Yes!" when asked about that tablet be seen to mean that Orange was confirming its existence.

On the other hand, we published a photo this afternoon of what our source said the glass that Apple is using on this tablet.