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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at least if your stocking is hung on the mantel of Apple tablet rumors. Here's the two latest chunks of yummy speculation, anonymous sourcing and eager shouts from the futures market on unicorn tears:

• The Financial Times has identified an Apple event reservation for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in late January (the same location used for the last iPod event, which featured Steve Jobs' return to active duty). The paper is saying that the event date is going to be January 26th, and while they won't say it's a lock for the tablet announcement, our buddy Gene Munster is giving even odds that the product to be launched will be either the medium or large device.
• The Bits blog of the New York Times, in a compelling rundown of the 2010 prospects for tablet computing, has got some fascinating perspective on the expected tablet. Writer Nick Bilton cites conversations with current and former senior Apple employees on the tablet topic, and points out that quite a bit of the tech in the current iPhone came out of tablet development and stalled prototypes from five years ago. The worries inside Apple that software development for a tablet wouldn't take off have been pretty well assuaged by the success of the App Store, Bilton notes, and there's -- good gracious -- actual quotes: "I can't really say anything, but, let's just say Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet," says a senior Apple employee; a former Apple staffer quips that "You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet." I'm getting tingling in my extremities.
• Lastly, late on Christmas Eve, MacRumors posted evidence that Apple purchased the iSlate.com domain back in 2007. An advance effort to pluck the necessary Internet real estate off the market, knowing that the tablet would be ready someday?

Needless to say, if Apple does indeed deliver a standalone launch event for the tablet during the last week of January, it's a gigantic poke in the eye for IDG and Macworld Expo -- the show gave up its traditional slot for January and moved to February after Apple's announcement that the company would no longer exhibit or keynote the tradeshow. Ouch.

[hat tip to MacRumors]

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyonflickr/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

TUAWTablet rumors du jour: FT says 1/26 announcement, NYT says Jobs "extremely happy," MacRumors finds iSlate.com registration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs - Apple - IPhone - Nick Bilton - New York Times

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