Apple believed to testing up to 50 tablets, says analytics firm

 

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Posted on 26 Jan 2010 at 13:50

According to a report compiled by Flurry, an analytics firm which tracks application usage on devices such as the iPhone, Apple has been testing around 200 different applications on 50 devices on its campus.

The firm said that testing of the devices goes back as far as October, but it increased dramatically in January. "Apple appears to be going through its cycle of testing and polish, which is expected from any hardware or software company as it nears launch," said Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry.

Flurry embeds tracking codes in applications that use its analytics service which sends information back to the company, including the device it is running on. The company says that's how it detected the unknown devices that it assumes are prototypes of the rumoured tablet.

Of the 200 applications that have been used by the testers, games were the number one application being tested, with entertainment, news and books also high on the agenda.

In the past, tablet PCs have focused on productivity and have had little appeal outside of this arena, but the data compiled by Flurry points to the rumoured tablet device being much more focused on entertainment than any previous tablet. It's quite clearly targeted at consumers and it'll be interesting how Apple pitches the device at its expected unveiling tomorrow evening.

It's believed to have a 10 or 11in touchscreen, complete with multi-touch gestures, and will run a version of iPhone OS. According to Flurry, the hardware detected was running on iPhone OS 3.2, which hasn't been released yet, which goes against previous rumours of it being released in conjunction with iPhone OS 4.0, but it could be that iPhone OS 3.2 is, in fact, version 4.0 of the software when it's officially unveiled.

This is arguably a better-suited operating environment for a tablet than a traditional desktop operating system like Windows or Mac OS and, what's more, Apple looks like it wants to leverage the 130,000 or so applications already available in the App Store right from day one.

We'll find out more when the Fruit Messiah walks out onto stage tomorrow evening, that's for sure.

Author: Tim Smalley