Name more likely for Apple tablet?

The name "iPad" may be a more likely choice for the Apple tablet, new information is thought to suggest. Just discovered in Canadian trademark databases is an application for the name by Slate Computing, well known as a front company for Apple. The application was originally submitted in July 2009, making it far more recent than ones for the name "iSlate," filed elsewhere around 2006 or 2007.

iPad trademarks are also noted to have been filed for in Europe and Hong Kong in the same month. The former application is associated with a UK lawfirm, while the latter is connected not to Slate but a business called IP Application Development, based in Delaware. IPAD has also been active as recently as last week, filing for iPad trademarks in Australia and New Zealand, one anonymous source claims.

A location the iPad trademark is not under Apple's control is in the US, where Fujitsu owns it for handheld computing. Such an obstacle would be unlikely to stop Apple however, as the company successfully won control of the iPhone name from Cisco. The Fujitsu iPAD is a point-of-sale device for retail.

by MacNN Staff