Analyst predicts Apple mini-computer in ’10

Tablet will look like an iPod Touch, but a bit larger, may cost $500 to $700
AP, msnbc.com, Aug. 7, 2009

NEW YORK — A prominent technology analyst predicted that Apple Inc. would release a "tablet" or mini-computer for sale early next year, and that it could boost the consumer electronics company's revenue by 3 percent in 2010.

Speculation of a tablet from Apple has been swirling among analysts and technology blogs for a couple years as other PC makers post big sales of netbooks.

The tablet from Apple will look like an iPod Touch, but a bit larger, said Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray analyst, in a research note Friday. He said he spoke with an Asian component supplier that had received orders from Apple for a touch-screen device that would need to be filled by late this year.

Munster estimated the tablet would be priced between $500 and $700 and would compete with netbooks, the tiny, low-cost, low-power laptops made by Dell, Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and other computer manufacturers. Sony, the Japanese electronics and media giant, recently announced it would start selling a netbook in Japan in August, with global rollouts following.

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