Apple have been granted a patent application for a Tablet device, complete with images and descriptive text. The patent compares it directly to other Windows based devices such as HP’s tablet PC lineup. The images show that the device has a touch screen, and is of a similar size to a 12″ iBook.

The Apple Blog speculated about this only last month in the form of an April fools joke. It seems as though Apple may have been thinking along similar lines. However, it must be noted - just because Apple have been granted a patent for such a device, does not mean that they will definitely follow it’s development through to production. Apple apply for many patents, not all of which are converted into a final product.