T ony Smith of The Register (UK) has found a design trademark application from Apple that suggests the company has at least thought about a tablet computer. The application was made in Europe, and includes images of what looks like an iBook without a keyboard. From The Register:
Apple has filed for a European design trademark which may provide a tantalising glimpse of the companyis long-awaited tablet computer.The filing, made in May this year but only published this week, covers a "handheld computer" and contains sketches of what look like an iBook screen minus the body of the computer.
The filing lists Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the companyis industrial design chief, Jonathan Ive. It also refers to Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Eugene Whang, Matthew Rohrbach, Bart Andre, Calvin Seid and Christopher Stringer all of key members of Appleis industrial design team, with the Power Mac G5, iPod, 17in and 12in PowerBook G4, and others under their belt.
Tony Smithis article has a lot of background information, and we recommend it as a very interesting read.