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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,522
30,797


Even with news that Apple has registered the iSlate trademark, we can't be certain that's the name the company will ultimately use. Of historic interest, however, is the fact that this is not the first time they used the "Slate" term in labeling one of their tablet projects. In the early 1990s, Apple had an unreleased tablet prototype called the "MessageSlate" based on the Newton technology.


080447-messageslate_500.jpg


Apple MessageSlate prototype - 1990s
The MessageSlate never went into production. Apple even applied for trademark protection for the MessageSlate name back in 1993.

Article Link: The 'iSlate' - Reviving an Old Name?
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
iSlate is starting to have a ring to it. Like when the iPod came out, it sounded daft.
 

DTphonehome

macrumors 68000
Apr 4, 2003
1,914
3,377
NYC
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Who says it's a prototype? Looks like it could be the new one ;)
 

fat phil

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
438
0
That looks the business, for the era. Certainly looks better than the Kindle looks today.
 

epo

macrumors member
Nov 13, 2009
62
1
You've got it all wrong

It won't be January and it will be called "Is late".

Many years ago a DEC minicomputer necessary for a project of mine was somewhat late in arriving, when it finally did so I gave it the network name "Godot", I commend this name to My Jobs.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
Remember how people howled when they announced "Macbook" and "Macbook Pro" as new names?

Remember how everyone said they were horrible? I don't know about you, but they seem perfectly normal to me now.

So I don't put much stock in the argument that "iSlate" sounds weird. That's never stopped Apple before and, honestly, whatever they come up with always sounds "normal" within a month or two anyway.
 

tdream

macrumors 65816
Jan 15, 2009
1,094
42
ie. before Steve Jobs came back to Apple. So the name does not come with his blessing.
 

chickenninja

macrumors 6502
Feb 13, 2008
356
21
inside my skull
Apple already has a tablet device which is the iphone, i dont see this islate being anything short of MAC-OSX, if it was based on iphone OS it would follow the iphones evolution. I think apple is itching to expand their product line, and take the reins on this emerging tablet market. My only hope is that somewhere in the mechanics of the device is a keyboard, i am so tired of my big floppy fingers in front of my screen and a touchscreen keyboard that infringes on my screen's real estate. I think this next device will have a stylus that doubles as a Wacom pen which can be used with other computers as a peripheral. and have trackpad multitouch capabilities so you can use both hands in a gesture. It would be nice to have a scanner on the bottom, so you could place it directly ontop of an 8.5"x11"
 

sjo

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2005
510
0
It won't be January and it will be called "Is late".

indeed, this is late thing smells just like someone at apple making fun of the fanboys... (or possibly an operation by worldwide loyalty team, leaking misinformation to find out who leaks in the company)
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
I hope this alleged tablet never come out, Tablet computers suck.

They suck today, and before Apple releases theirs. Big difference.

Tablets will eventually replace notebooks. It'll take years, but that's where Apple is headed, and even at this early stage they'll release a tablet like none that has been seen or experienced before. Forget everything you know about tablets, all their shortcomings, all their problems. It's all about to change. Apple is excellent at redefining and popularizing current technological ideas and paradigms that aren't being exploited correctly.
 

gwarth

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2006
14
0
Hamburg, Germany
iSlate back made out of actual slate?

I'm don't know much about material science but what if Apple actually used slate as the material for the back of the device? You know, instead of plas… erh polycarbonate or aluminum. Would propably look awesome.
 

Data

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2006
392
12
I don't hink it will be a tablet at all, at least not in the sense as we know, it, like for drawing and stylusses and stuff, i think it will be a pure media/gaming device nothing more and nothing less.

But i'm still hoping that Apple will surprise us all with some funtionality that none of us have thought about.
 
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