Apple tablet the nonexistent star of CES

The Apple tablet computer is the biggest topic at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is not bad for a product which is not yet known to exist and which has not even as yet been acknowledged by its manufacturer.

There is no doubt at all that the biggest buzz of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is the Apple tablet computer, a device that Apple has not even admitted exists. It cannot be shown, attendees can’t look at it, and Apple does not attend the CES, yet the iTablet is still the talk of the show. According to a CNET article, the fabled iTablet (or iSlate or iGuide) has cast a spell over the entire show, and it seems as if the biggest CES question this year is whether or not Steve Jobs will introduce the device on later in the month, something which is also heavily rumored.

One wonders if the Apple tablet should be nominated for rumor of the millennium. Although the secrecy with which Apple governs itself is legendary, which makes rumors about Apple a given of the tech press, the buzz generated by the tablet device is nearing the awesome category. With almost endless square footage holding almost unlimited new electronic devices, the nonexistent Apple tablet is being talked about almost constantly by show vendors and attendees alike. The last time Apple outshone CES this completely was in 2007, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone during the same week that CES was being held.

Extraordinarily, other tablet computers were introduced at the show, heavyweights like Steve Ballmer talked about tablet computers before large audiences, and yet nothing seems to  have caught the attention of show-goers like the product that wasn’t there from the company that wasn’t there. I have said it before, but if Steve Jobs leaps up on stage at the Yerba Buena Center on January 26 or 27 and introduces another iPod with a camera instead of a tablet computer, the collective moan will be heard around the world.

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• Steve Jobs: Apple Tablet to be “the most important thing I’ve ever done”
• McGraw-Hill CEO confirms Apple Tablet a day early – Steve Jobs likely goes mad
• Apple Tablet rumors now verge on the surreal
• Will Apple steal the tablet marketplace?
• The world doesn’t need any more written about the Apple Tablet – so please stop