Well, this week positively rife with Apple tablet rumors. Looks like my Apple round up for this week on Otaku Gadgets will be pretty interesting, not to mention full of stuff on the tablet.
So in my last post I dealt with the signs of Apple’s intentions of taking the print industry along for the Tablet ride. This one is just to round up the other rumors that have been going around. Plus, an older tablet project has been dug on the Internet and it sounds pretty interesting.
Other than the Bill Keller slip and the rumors around Australian media companies, there are more rumors on the Internet that surround the impending Apple Tablet. One of them concerns something pretty mundane – a SIM card tray designed for a future generation Apple device. But boring as the part itself may be, for us information hungry techies it is like piecing together a puzzle from a one-piece clue.
So this SIM card tray that you see here, compared side-by-side with the SIM card tray used in the current iPhone, is pretty interesting at the points that have been highlighted. The first thing that is apparent is the fact the new SIM tray is bigger than the current SIM tray and at that size, there is no way it is made for a device the size of an iPhone. The iPhone is a pretty tightly packed device.
Next, the new tray has a metal frame inside the plastic one. This seems to be a way to reinforce the entire mechanism so that it does not fall apart. This might be because it is meant for a larger device. Also, the difference in the diameter of the hole clearly indicates that the release mechanism has been changed.
So now that we agree that it isn’t for an iPhone, we can also presume that it is not for the iPod Touch 3G either. After all, they are quite similar in size. Additionally, I think it is safe to say that Apple will include a 3G modem on MacBooks anytime soon. That leaves us with a portable device that is bigger than the iPhone/Touch and needs 3G connection on the go. So it looks like we are staring at a part from the Apple. [read]
Next, we have an ARM related rumor. ARM’s Cortex A9 chip design – 5-times faster than the Atom at the same power consumption and also 60% smaller – has been licensed by another company. This was discovered in the Q3 report of the company. Upon being asked about the licensee, ARM said that the contract prevented them from divulging the name. 9to5 Mac speculates that it might be Apple. I know this is too vague but Apple has licensed ARM designs before and although this is too late into the development cycle, it is possible that Apple will include the Cortex A9 in future iPhones and Tablets. [read]
Some time back there was another rumor that the stellar engineering team from PA SEMI is currently working in two groups. One working on chips for the iPhone and the other is working on a PDA device. [read]
Even if that is not true, they are definitely working on something! It has been quite some time since PA SEMI was bought out by Apple and we have not seen anything all that big from Apple in terms of chips. Plus, the design team seems to be busy as well. Because all of Apple’s recent updates have shown very minimal design changes. The Magic Mouse is perhaps the only thing that required some designing and it is nothing too big. A better example would be Snow Leopard. I know it was more like a maintenance thing than anything else but there is almost nothing to show the difference visually. Call me more speculative than necessary but it does feel like Apple is getting ready for something big.
![apple_plane [credit: macblogz]](http://www.ghacks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/apple_plane.jpg "apple_plane [credit: macblogz]")
Then we have the sudden upsurge of Apple engineers traveling to China. While this may be just routine travel to the factories but so many together and so frequently is arousing suspicions indeed. Besides, Chinese company Foxconn is already rumored to be commissioned with the upcoming Tablet device. Over all, it looks like a development cycle is ending rapidly and a massive production cycle is beginning. We will keep you updated. [read]
Before I end, I want to draw your attention to this – a much older tablet device that was terminated by Apple. It has been dug up by Techcrunch and it is worth a look.
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A lot of rumors can’t wait to actually see the Apple tablet in person.