The History of the Apple Tablet Rumor
Posted 07/30/2009 at 6:52pm
| by Michelle Delio
Mermaids, fairies, unicorns, Nessie, swamp apes, goat-sucking chupacabras, Apple’s Tablet computer -- all of these fabulous creatures have attained near mythical status, sporadically become the topic of widespread interest, and are occasionally spotted in the wild by a favored few. Some of us simply don’t believe -- "Real computers have keyboards," Steve Jobs has said on more than one occasion -- the rest of us keep hoping.
Below is the wondrous tale of Apple’s legendary Tablet computer, documenting nearly a decade of openly whispered secrets, extraordinary rumors, astonishing apparitions and intrepid souls who pore through patent databases, ask hard questions, and dare to speculate about the magic being conjured up behind closed doors in Cupertino.
May 24, 2001: Kevin Fox, a user experience designer for Google, blogs "At least five times in the past 10 years engineers at Apple have worked on initiatives to bring a full-sized tablet-based computer to market. Though the previous four attempts never saw the light of day, Apple has saved the best for last. This July: Meet iPad." Fox figured that the iPad would be 11.5" x 9" x 0.7" with a 12-inch 1024×768 LCD touch- and stylus-sensitive screen, 2-3 pounds, priced just under a thousand bucks. His "predictive analysis based on past Apple research, Apple’s current market strategies, and recent product and technology positioning" appears flawless, but Apple didn’t deliver.
November 18, 2002: Matthew Rothenberg at eWeek writes that "It's my strong belief, let's call it a hunch, that prototype Mac tablets are already making the rounds among select developers" adding "Nota bene: I've yet to get my hands on a smoking pen that will verify the Tablet Mac's existence. Any readers with first-hand experience are welcome to drop me a line (in the strictest confidence, of course)."
January 5, 2003: Rothenberg’s request for insider information seems to have been granted. He now writes "My sources sketch the following picture: A device that superficially resembles a large iPod with an 8-inch diagonal screen, lacks a keyboard, packs USB and FireWire ports, and runs Mac OS X along with a variety of multimedia goodies." Rothenberg predicts that the device will debut at the upcoming Macworld Expo in San Francisco. (According to Mac Rumors, since eWeek’s links to old stories are broken)

Source: Chris Messina
June 4, 2003: Steve Jobs tells Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal that "There are no plans to make a tablet… people want keyboards. We look at the tablet and we think it is going to fail. Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already." According to a Google cache of a MacObserver story, Jobs and Mossberg had this chat at the D: All Things Digital conference.