[Image via DesignYouTrust]

Supposedly according to MacRumors, “last July, Apple dummy corporation Slate Computing, LLC applied for a trademark for an ‘iPad.’ Similar applications have since been filed in England, Australia and Hong Kong.” [via Gizmodo].  More recently, the Apple Tablet or the more popular “iSlate” has been smeared across many online and offline media sources.  People cannot get enough of this mystical product.

However, if  Steve Jobs really thought of the “iPad” for this product, I shake my head and think that he should have consulted his wife, daughters or any female employee.  The “iPad” sounds like an iPhone app that tracks a woman’s menstrual cycle.  Well, if the “iPad” is truly the name of the the mystical Apple Tablet or iSlate, then I hope the cover or protective case for the iPad is the iCondom.  Just something to think about.

What names do you think would be better than the “iPad,” “iSlate,” or Apple Tablet?  Comment below.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately there is already a product named the iCondom, but if you have any other recommendations for names, please place them below.

The excitement about the iSlate is going to continue to brew and come to a boil on January 27th.  People are curious if this mythical tech creature is real, and if the iSlate will rival the iPhone.  Either way, I am a pragmatic person and am wondering how this product will fit into my Mac life.  Essentially, the iSlate will be like a hybrid child between the iMacbook Pro and an iPhone.  Supposedly according to the Wall Street Journal, the iSlate or Apple Tablet is going to be 10 to 11 inches.

Currently, I can fit my iPhone in my pocket and my iMacbook Pro in my laptop bag, but the size of the Tablet will determine where I will store and carry this product.  Reuters states that AVY Precision Technology Inc., a Taiwanese manufacturer, will begin production of aluminum casings for the iSlate.  Perhaps Apple should take a different approach.  While Apple created seductive colors for the iPod, how is Apple going to cater more to women?

Mazantri Creations created a product, which Steve Jobs might want to consider as a potential investment for protective covers for the iSlate.

[image via Mazantri Creations]

There are even a variety of styles and you can customize your design.  There is the Cleavage Caddy and Cleavage Caddy II.  The only difference is that the original Cleavage Caddy has some sassy lace for the pragmatic, but chic woman?  Perhaps Steve Jobs should ruminate about this type of protective wear for the iSlate because the iPhone is already compatible…not that I know from experience…

Wow, and Steve Ballmer didn’t.  With as much hype as there is about the iSlate or Apple Tablet, Ballmer, or rather Microsoft, did not rain on the parade of the Apple Tablet at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  With rumors circulating that Ballmer was going to reveal a Microsoft tablet, Ballmer instead presented the HP touch screen tablet.  As a result of this anti-climatic presentation, the Microsoft and HP shares fell yesterday.

According to Business Week, “Microsoft fell 19 cents to $30.77 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares jumped 57 percent last year. Hewlett- Packard, which advanced 42 percent last year, dropped 49 cents to $52.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.”  While it is uncertain that there is a direct correlation between this stock exchange rate and the rumored Microsoft rival tablet, it is clear that many people were disappointed with Microsoft.

Microsoft could not win in this competition between companies.  If Microsoft had come out with the “Gates Slate” there would have been a tsunami of blogs written about how Microsoft beat Apple to the punch similar to how during the week of the Windows 7 release, Apple released a myriad of new products.  So rather than trying to rival the Apple iSlate, Microsoft decided to concentrate on the Windows 7 compatibility.

However, perhaps Microsoft intentionally did not produce or release a “Gates Slate” because if the Apple iSlate were to blow Microsoft out of the water during Apple’s release, it would have been a worse slap in the face.

So here is the moral of the story, good job Microsoft for not trying to compete with Apple, because Jobs is already on it.

[via The Globe And Mail]

Everyone seems to be obsessing over the iSlate.  Whether this fix of the iSlate is healthy or unhealthy, we will have to wait and see what Apple with bring on January 27th to the Yerba Buena Center?  The buzz online is a frenzy of people re-quoting, retweeting, re-telling, re- everything.  I am surprised that there aren’t any articles yet about how the iSlate will be able to cure cancer or how there there is no ‘ctrl’ button on the iSlate because the iSlate is always in control…or perhaps I am confusing the iSlate with Chuck Norris.

Regardless, I will participate in this MSG addiction to the delicious iSlate dish and serve out some of the rumors:

The Leak -

Supposedly according to MacRumors “Apple acquired the domain name iSlate.com presumably in preparation for the new device. The iSlate.com domain was originally registered in October 2004 by a company called Eurobox Ltd. It later changed hands to Data Docket, Inc. in 2006. In 2007, however, the domain was transferred to registrar MarkMonitor.com. MarkMonitor handles domain name registrations and trademark protections for many companies, including Apple. As is typical, however, the name of the actual registrant was initially hidden to obscure the identify of the actual owner.”

Synapses of Rumors -

The Wall Street Journal states that the mythical tablet will be “a 10 to 11-inch touch screen—which would make it closer in size to Apple’s line of MacBook laptops than its smart phone.”  Furthermore, the WSJ stated that “Yair Reiner, an analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., said in a research note last month that the tablet would be priced at about $1,000, citing sources.”

However even with this speculation, Apple has not made a formal or official statement regarding the iSlate.  Until Apple decides to announce more details about their product, I will consider these rumors as having as much validity as the statement that “There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist” [via ChuckNorrisFacts.com].