Speculation hotting up in advance of today's launch.
At 10am PST tonight (6pm here in the UK), Apple will kick off its tablet launch in San Francisco. Speculation has been rising to a fever pitch in the hours leading up to the event.
Here's one last roundup, starting with Terry McGraw, CEO of book publisher McGraw-Hill, saying probably more than he should've in a TV interview:
"Yes, they'll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable... So now with the tablet you're going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific."
Talking of books, TechCrunch has predicted that the tablet may include a Barnes & Noble e-bookstore application, either as one of the device's showcase apps, or even built into the tablet OS itself.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal claimed yesterday that book publishers are still locked in negotiations with Apple about how to sell e-books for the device - which possibly contradicts the Barnes & Noble suggestion.
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"Apple is asking publishers to set two e-book price points for hardcover best sellers: $12.99 and $14.99, with fewer titles offered at $9.99. In setting their own e-book prices, publishers would avoid the threat of heavy discounting. Apple would take a 30% cut of the book price, with publishers receiving the remaining 70%."
There's also still talk around the gaming capabilities of the tablet, besides Web 2.0 entrepreneur Jason Calacanis' (possibly spoof) claims that social game Farmville will get a tablet conversion.
Meanwhile, EA Sports boss Peter Moore has been talking about the gaming potential for the device, albeit while stressing what he knows is only based on media reports.
"If it’s got a great screen, some buttons, you can turn it on and it connects to the Internet, it’s got the ability to be a games machine," he told Bloomberg.
Namco Bandai's Jon Kromrey has also expressed excitement about the device in the same article: "I’m having fun thinking about all the wonderful things we can do with the device when it’s announced."
Actually, though, the first game for Apple's tablet has already been announced, in a cheeky move by indie developer Stand Alone Inc. It says it's making a tablet version of its iPhone Crosswords game, to take advantage of a 10-inch touchscreen.
"The Tablet version of Crosswords should keep the core functionality of the original, but optimize the user interface to be more reminiscent of its newspaper roots," says its press release.
"Users will still be able to use the integrated hint and look up systems, import or download new daily puzzles, enjoy the expanding catalogue of free puzzles, and enjoy in-app support for premium subscriptions to puzzles such as the New York Times."
More rumours? There's a supposed TV ad for the new device doing the rounds, with most of the blogosphere assuming it's fake:
But the best rumour of all comes from the Twitter feed of Rodney Charters, who works on the TV drama 24. Last night, he tweeted this:
"Hmmmm looks like we may get an iSlate into Jacks hands for Ep 20 getting giddy with excitement"
24 has had Apple product placement since its first series, so it looks like a goer. Torturing terrorist suspects against the clock? There may well be a tablet app for that...
