Flurry, a mobile app analytics company, has noticed approximately 50 devices in the Cupertino that match the characteristics of Apple’s tablet device. Flurry claims to have reliably placed these devices on Apple’s Cupertino campus, and are confident that they are “observing a group of pre-release tablets in testing.”
This make sense – as the Apple Tablet has to be tested before it is announced this Wednesday, January 27 in San Francisco. Furthermore, Flurry has been an extremely reliable source on analytics data thus far and don’t often break stories unless they are sure they’ve checked their facts.
They’ve noticed that a large number of the apps downloaded were Games (140 total downloads or launches) and the next group was Entertainment, followed by News and Books. Here’s a chart of the usage data:
Flurry noticed a few additional pieces of information regarding the tablet. First, the fact that it is running iPhone apps that have Flurry installed implies that it will likely run the same apps you can currently download via iTunes.
Flurry also noticed that the Apple device was running on OS 3.2, which has not been announced. This confirms suspicions that the Apple Tablet will be accompanied by an announcement of a new iPhone OS. Flurry notes that this also jives with common practices for Apple, which tends to announce OS upgrades during the launch of new hardware.
The rest of the report is available here.
What does it confirm? A table is coming up? Don’t we know that already by now?
Can’t wait for this Wed! :)
Ah yes, I guess we just can’t wait for the news on wed. that’s why these stories just keep popping out.
Apart from the post, dozens of theories are sprouting from the tablet.. Starting from real-looking tablet pics, to some nauseating hoax that news publisher will start to bring a toll-fee for readers as well via itunes.. Gee, let’s see how the 27th of Jan. Plays out. Details: Rumor Mills of Apple Tablet Compiled
So, it’s an oversized iPod Touch, what’s the big deal…
Just saw a picture of sasy with islate ipad
http://islateapple.org/islate/sasquatch-spotted-with-apple-tablet/
*Kneels towards Cupertino and prays*
Why is 3.2 and not 4.0?
Probably because 3.2 is just 3.1.2 but with tablet support, and some other features probably. 4.0 is going to have a lot more stuff, probably. It doesn’t make sense to add a whole version number just because of a new device.
probably
Zomg!
Ladies and Gentlemen…
Hello.
Yes, it is I, the Apple Tapplet.
I look forward to bringing years of joy to millions of citizens around the world!
Steve is a very kind and brilliant man, and I thank him for giving me life —
Alas, most of you have demanded it, but gotten nowhere.
But that’s no reason to be left out of what could easily be the most useful, most used, most you-gotta-have-this device, anywhere, at anytime, maybe, in the history of man — the start of a new decade will usher in the beginning of a new, exciting era of mobility –
me, the Apple Tapplet
I will see you 1.27.2010 –
With Love,
:-)
Tapplet
Too bad the new decade starts next year…..2011. :-)
hey genius, 2000 was the first year of the new milenium. do some math and get back to me.
Actually, there was no year 0, so years 1-10 were the first decade, with the 2nd decade starting in year 11. Therefore, technically the new millennium didn’t start until 2001, and the next decade won’t start until 2011. Genius.
no.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess this is the next gen of the iPhone. At least I hope it is, I was looking forward to a full OSX system (or maybe a hybrid of the two) on the tablet!
Doubtful. Although OS X is getting better (and much better then the rate Windows eats batteries), it isn’t designed to have the battery life that a tablet should have. My guess is this will be based on the iPhone OS with some features that are more desktop like.
Soo.. iPhone apps are “calling home” and tracking the location of it’s users. Boy, let this had been a WinMo device doing that….
Good point!
I hope this data is wrong. I don’t want to use the same iPhone apps on the tablet. A tablet requires a richier set of applications.
I’m really scared that this tablet is going to be just a larger iPod touch or iPhone, as every single rumor seems to indicate. That would totally suck. I can’t accept that Steve would do something like that.
Maybe it’ll do both!
My guess is that the iPad* will be able to run iPhone apps in a “widget” type interface – where you can have multiple apps running at the same time. This deals with the screen size issue and it also allows Apple to have applications specifically for the iPad which won’t be available for the iPhone.
We’ll see though!
*iPad: what I hope it’s called – iSlate sounds terrible
yes, iSlate sounds terrible especially after Microsoft Slate. hehe
This is exactly what I am hoping for, obviously Apple is going to tie it into the App Store, but I really hope that is just a small portion of its capabilities.
seriously the maxipad.
worst name ever. ipad.
iTouch 3G or Newton 2 or MacGo or Mac Tablet or iBook or iRumor or iDFC … i dunno.. I like the iTouch 3G tho.
Apple tablet finally spotted!
http://yfrog.com/4gpxmaj
OHMYBAJEEBUS!
If the Tablet team knew that Flurry has leaked info about an unreleased product I’m sure they’ll be working up the legal papers as we speak.
They are only reporting the stats they are seeing in the apps using their service. They haven’t reported any confidential information.
been holding back on buying kindle to buy apple tablet to read in color
Books are still going to be black and white, so what difference will it make?
publishers will take advantage of the color and make color digital books going forward. magazine articles in color would be nice also.
only three of the killer advantages over the kindl:
backlit = reading at night without lamp and without disturbing partner
touchscreen = finger-highlighting of passages instead of that dreadful cursor
colors = finding books by cover
I find that more interesting for textbooks. They are usually in color and you often want to flip through them faster then an e-ink device will let you.
Newspapers aren’t.
You guys are amazing !! how could you get such information!!
Apple should have stronger policies to hide its intentions in the future.
PR PR PR my friend, little leak here, little leak there and the press feeding frenzy anticipation increases- nothing truly revealed- did they actually come from iPad or were they testing upgraded iPhone OS? Hmmm
i admire apple pr almost as much as their advertising/design unit. i would schill for apple pr…not for apple the company, but to be a part of that group that just holds all that level of control in their grasps, would be awesome.
An Apple tablet sounds interesting. However, I sure hope that it will be running something more robust than the iPhone OS.
“Flurry, a mobile app analytics company, has noticed approximately 50 devices in the Cupertino that match the characteristics of Apple’s tablet device.”
How did it notice those characteristics? Screen resolution? The new OS version? What is this based on?
purple aura
Presumably based on library code that is being called by apps which include it. That code then interrogates the device properties (such as OS version, screen res, etc.) using SDK calls and phones home with the information.
This is awesome news.
because tablet computers are such a new thing….
“Because MP3 players are such a new thing…”
“Because Smartphones are such a new thing…”
I knew that sounded familiar…
Are we now getting daily updates of iSlate movements in the wild.
Lets all stop talking, texting, twittering, facebooking, messaging, emailing and whatever about it and wait until the 27th. Most likely only at the end of the presentation starting with the famous words :
One more thing…
So all be silent and sit back until after the announcement of upgraded Macbook Pro’s and an improved OS for the current mobile devices.
After that moment you can all start to complain about what the device lacks.
I find people like you *much* more annoying than stories about rumors about product X.
It wasn’t as if the headline didn’t clearly state what this story was about – and you still had to click, be annoyed, and write an idiotic comment. Hope you feel somehow satisfied now! :)
omfg i cant wait omg! LOL
Does anyone else have sweaty palms?
The final puzzle piece in the digital lifestyle strategy. Steve’s legacy complete. I feel like right before the moment when the stargate clicked into place. Where will it transport us?
Confirmed from the Washington Post:
The Tablet is primarily a GAMING DEVICE.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/24/AR2010012402394.html?nav=hcmodule
Circular references don’t count.
+1 Dr. Bob- old news (within 12 hrs) and nothing confirmed
I won’t be surprised if Mike Arrington dresses as a janitor, goes to Apple in midnight, searches thru the files and trash and open computers, and releases the tablet a day before Apple reveals it.
Gawd, I can make a movie on this :)
If they have 50 devices running already, that indicates to mee, that they are ready to ship the devices quite soon – contrary to other reports that it wouldn’t ship before april or june.
Are they going to provide phone call and video conference functionality for this tables (say Skype)
Every mobile app developer (including us) when submits their app (with Flurry enabled) to Apple, watches the Flurry analytics closely to watch Apple testing behavior. We did before we launched too. But didn’t see anything coming in. I am sure Apple has ways to block such usage behavior going into Flurry.
And for Tablet, the way tight-lipped they are, they are least likely to leak such info to Flurry.
If at all, this is genuine data, it’s a game Apple playing to feed fuel to the fire, and nothing else!
if this thing is gonna be called Tapplet, I’m gonna be very upset
Apple Major Fail! Similar Windows tablets will run Windows 7, and Apple will cripple their tablet with a smartphone OS???
The other way around, my friend. The smart and flexible warrior wins the war, not the one transporting his entire battalion into each battle. Lets just say things will get ugly for the battalion.
A smartphone OS against Windows 7?? You have got to be kidding. Hopefully Steve will wake up and make it run OSX, otherwise it will be just another irrelevant blimp in time.
Yeah. Because installing full blown Windows on tablets has been doing fantastic.
You´re a genius.
I wont deny older tablets were unusable, but dont blame the OS. Windows 7 has multi-touch capabilities, and is built around the entire Multitouch revolution. Back then (the tablets you’re referring to) used pens to navigate on a device heavier than two elephants. Todays devices are 10 times more powerful and the rise of the multitouch display makes the entire experience more enjoyable. What makes no sense, is that Apple could have made the device run OSX with a seperate App that opened a ‘easier’ navigation program like in the HP Multitouch PC’s, and then when you need to run standard software, you revert back to OSX. That would have been the best way to go, but no, they decided to go for a device with the software capabilities of a smartphone.
I’m not Apple bashing, I’m just thinking of the huge potential of such an device, and having the freedom of a full OS is better than a overgrown iPhone.
The tablet, called iTablet, is already selling like mad here in flea markets here India.
Btw, the “i” in iTablet stands for India.
Games.
No wonder the Asians are kicking our ass.
Between now and Wednesday I will be sleeping in tent outside the local apple store.
According to Wired this entire report is bogus:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/50-apple-tablets-already-online-apps-downloaded/
Filling a use case scenario slot where there is no preexisting product, that’s big. While waiting for the holodeck, the atom transporter, the laser sword and the implanted brainPod, what other major technological product breakthrough will any of us be able to witness in our few remaining decades of lifetime?
We got the car, only that it will be electric. We got the TV, only that it will be a wallpaper. But finally getting the first version of that missing Pad where I can walk through virtual libraries with gesture movements, see my newspaper or magazine update itself on the kitchen table, or hold a frame to the world and see it overlay information snippets, that’s really happening now.
For the past weeks I’ve been playing out future tablet use cases to see where the Pad would complete my digital lifestyle and fill the empty use case scenario slots. “Table moment” I shout to my eye-rolling husband while holding the invisible pad and imagining what information I could get with it in just the right time, place and format.
Or, of course I could unplug the 27 ipods and power chord from my laptop, then search 20 minutes on the kitchen table for a place where to put the damn beloved thing. Or squint at my iPhone and type my search query letter by letter like a 9 your old.
2 more days to a life with tablet moments.
Except there already are pre-exisiting products.
Try again.
iSlick sounds much better than iSlate!
Flurry called out: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/50-apple-tablets-already-online-apps-downloaded/
According to Wired “Apple Tablets Sniffed by Analytics Are More Likely iPhones”?
Get the iPad NOW! from the Apple site.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/ipad.html
Check it out!!!
Thanks Rick.
It is there. I just got it and it is Awesome.
Thanks again bro!!! ; )
how will the chinese companies ever create a knockoff for the tablet? will it be a bigger chipod or something?