Real, but not the real thing.
Yes, it's pretty ugly, just an ipod touch on steroids. But I reckon it is a real apple made device being sent out to the content makers so they can have their product available when the tablet's launched, say March. Steve will want to be able to say on stage
and it's available from today with as much content to download/buy as possible, sports illustrated, ikea catalogues etc etc. But rest assured what he's holding won't be the device we're seeing here.