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Apple 'iSlate' Trademark and What is a 'Magic Slate'?

Islate sounds more like a red herring so we do not find out the "real" name,prior to launch...jmo


The surprise - Maybe motion feedback control like the Wi etc.
 
This must be why, presumably, Apple came down hard on this college student who came up with his own multi-touch tablet OS concept and made a series of very nice movies that were up at youtube a while back...

I blogged about this guy, and how Apple better not let this college kid one-up them in the creation of a UI for this mythical tablet...

The movies themselves have been taken down, but my blog still shows the first frame of the two videos that I showcased in a blog article back in July of 2009 of this iSlate OS...

Funny, this college kid was calling his idea iSlate....now look where we are!

http://dougitdesign.com/blogs/blog_...ting-System-for-your-new-Tablet-Computer.html
 
doug in albq said:
This must be why, presumably, Apple came down hard on this college student who came up with his own multi-touch tablet OS concept and made a series of very nice movies that were up at youtube a while back...
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What's your evidence for that? Unless he was an Apple employee, Apple had no basis for "coming down hard on him." He wasn't violating any of their intellectual property rights.
 
MacRumors said:
The implication being that Apple set up Slate Computing, LLC as a dummy corporation to secretly acquire the iSlate trademark. Apple has been known to do this in the past. For example, the iPhone trademark was originally filed by Ocean Telecom Services, another anonymous Delaware-based company.

In delving deeper, however, we have discovered evidence that Apple is indeed behind Slate Computing, LLC and the iSlate trademark.
…
Exactly such a multi-touch "trackpad gadget" was rumored in October. It's not clear if Apple is still planning on releasing such a device, but the name of "Magic Slate" would fit in nicely alongside the Magic Mouse.
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Oooh things are coming together!

Surely said:
iSlate makes sense for the name of the device, and Magic Slate also makes sense for a peripheral device for the iSlate.
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Possibly it could be used as both a "desktop trackpad" and an iSlate peripheral?

Surely said:
Here's an interesting pattern:

Looking at the list above, all of the devices that use OSX have the word "Mac" in them (bolded).

All of the devices that do not use OSX do not have the word "Mac" in them.

If the name of the tablet is 'iSlate', perhaps that means that it won't be using Mac OSX (or a version of it).

I think that this "iSlate" will use a version of the iPhone OS.

EDIT: looks like Shot22 beat me to posting this idea (I was composing my comment when he posted). Great minds.....:D
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I kinda thought the reverse when reading the earlier rumors. The rumors pointed to iPhone OS (or something like it) for the device, so I thought that it would have an "i" name rather than a "Mac" name. (That's why I never really liked the word "MacTablet.")
 
well i mean like the device itself. im not too familiar with the technicalities of trademarks and patents

i think i meant to ask. iSlate already trademarked?
 
puppyflightclub said:
well i mean like the device itself. im not too familiar with the technicalities of trademarks and patents
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The name has been registered as a trademark by a company called "Slate Computing" which appears to be a company controlled by Apple. Technically, when one registers a trademark, one has to certify that it is "used in commerce" or soon will be.

The device has not been patented, but it is very rare that a patent corresponds to an entire device. Apple files many patent applications, and many of them could correspond to a tablet computer, but they could also be red herrings or patented just to have intellectual property to use to defend against suits by other companies.
 
iMacmatician said:
Oooh things are coming together!

Possibly it could be used as both a "desktop trackpad" and an iSlate peripheral?
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking. Perhaps the Magic Slate will be a multi-touch pad with tactile-feedback, so when using it as a keyboard, you can look at the iSlate and not down at the Magic Slate.......

It would also be great if it could be used as a game-controller that would be able to be customized by the game devs for each of their games.

For the Magic Slate, I'm picturing either a device that is the size (or close to the size) of a basic keyboard that is one big touchpad. Or, perhaps two touchpads with a hinge in the middle that can be folded in half for portability......

Or maybe it'll be the same size as an iPod touch that can be used for thumb-typing instead of a full-sized keyboard.

Or maybe it'll be an App for your iPhone or iPod touch that will be able to wirelessly control the iSlate......

I kinda thought the reverse when reading the earlier rumors. The rumors pointed to iPhone OS (or something like it) for the device, so I thought that it would have an "i" name rather than a "Mac" name. (That's why I never really liked the word "MacTablet.")
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That's what I said: iSlate will use a form of iPhone OS because it doesn't have the word "Mac" in it's name.
 
cmaier said:
The name has been registered as a trademark by a company called "Slate Computing" which appears to be a company controlled by Apple. Technically, when one registers a trademark, one has to certify that it is "used in commerce" or soon will be.

The device has not been patented, but it is very rare that a patent corresponds to an entire device. Apple files many patent applications, and many of them could correspond to a tablet computer, but they could also be red herrings or patented just to have intellectual property to use to defend against suits by other companies.
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ohhhhh i see.

"Slate Computing" haaa that sounds like a flintstones company, if computers existed already in the time the cartoon was developed.

But it sounds real generic too, sounds like its a placeholder or mask tho now that I see...
 
Magic Slate et al

Haven't read all the comments, but anyway...Apple may have the trademark on Magic Slate, but the domain "Magicslate.com" is currently available for bid at DomainBroker.com. This might set the stage for some interesting litigtion....
 
Apple has hired retired CIA and DSS personnel who are experts in CI/Industrial Security and setting up cover(front companies) etc..

This is why they are so good at what they do.
 
cmaier said:
Using the name "magic" to describe a tablet will probably bring negative recollections of General Magic.
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Don't worry, the general public doesn't have any recollections of General Magic.

[for my part, I like "Slate", but "iSlate" is fine too]
 
All I know is, if I can't install Illustrator, VMWare & CAD on it, there is no limit to the money I will spend to build my own.

...and screw waiting for Axiotron to figure it out.
 
I can't decide if I'm more excited about what it is or what it's called with all these name rumors. Haha we are in for an interesting month ahead.

appleguy123 said:
Steve Jobs probably is being shown this, and is screaming as we speak. Nice reporting!
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I really hope some Apple engineers (or Steve himself) are members here or at least read these types of rumor sites just to get a laugh at everyone thinking and arguing about what it will be called.
 
Surely said:
That's what I said: iSlate will use a form of iPhone OS because it doesn't have the word "Mac" in it's name.
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What I said was the other way around: The device will have an "i" name because it will use a form of iPhone OS.
 
iMacmatician said:
What I said was the other way around: The device will have an "i" name because it will use a form of iPhone OS.
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I see.

So we're saying the same thing.

You're saying it will be iPhone OS because it starts with an "i".

I'm saying it will be iPhone OS because it doesn't have "Mac" in it's name.
 
puppyflightclub said:
possibly but how would apple know that in 2 years on a late December 24th/25th night, macrumors and other people would start finding clues?
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How do you know that a few well-timed anonymous or subtle hints to finding these clues at just the right time aren't part of a clever marketing campaign (either for early mind-share and pre-brand placement, or for misdirection, or for exposing the source of a leak)?
 
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