Apple acquired iSlate.com domain name back in 2007

With Apple now believed to be planning an important, and perhaps tablet-related, announcement on January 26th, the rumors surrounding Apple’s potentially next big thing continue to build. Most recently, MacRumors did a little bit of sleuthing on Christmas Eve and discovered that Apple purchased the iSlate.com domain name in 2007.

If you check the ownership information now, the only entry that comes up is for Markmonitor.com which happens to be a company who purchases domain names on behalf of large corporations when the ownership of certain domains needs to be kept under wraps. Naturally, this find has prompted many to believe that Apple’s rumored tablet will be called an “iSlate”.

Also noteworthy is that Apple also, it turns out, owns the trademarks for iSlate and MagicSlate. Could these, perhaps, be upcoming Apple products? Or, is Apple just snatching up domain names and trademarks that it may consider using in the future?

Lastly, I should point out that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a reference to a slate device as it pertains to Apple. Back in October, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller brought up an “impending Apple slate” during a talk to the paper’s digital staff. A video of that presentation can be viewed below, with the relevant portion of the talk beginning at about 8 minutes in.