We haven’t heard much about the TechCrunch Tablet in awhile, but it looks like things might be moving along. Michael Arrington posts a picture of Prototype A of the device and an update.

We booted the machine in the case for the first time today, accessed the Wifi network and were able to navigate a web page via the touch screen.

Probably a long ways off, but I’d still like to see this come to be.

Ok, I doubt that Steve Jobs and crew are really feeling the pressure from the TechCrunch Tablet announcement, but the timing of this latest rumor from MacDailyNews, on top of the “mystery product” talk from yesterday sure raises an eyebrow, even if we’ve heard most of it before.

Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion's haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at "low" price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.

When you play hardball and clamp down on leaks as ruthlessly as Apple does it is for only one reason. So, you can control the news cycle. And leaking things yourself is one way to do so. Idle speculation? Perhaps.

via CrunchGear

Yesterday was a relatively slow news day in the space we cover until TechCrunch dropped news that they were seeking advice/support/all comers to develop an open source Web Tablet with a hoped for price of $200. Some thought it was a hoax. My buddy Rob doesn’t think they are serious. Some jumped on it as if it were the second coming. Some see it as a great kick in the pants to an industry that keeps ignoring the obvious as they continue to look in the rear view mirror.

I’m in that last camp. I sincerely hope the TechCrunch folks succeed in this. I’d pay up front for the device, sight unseen. But whether Mike, Nick, and their cohorts succeed may be beside the point. I hope everyone else was paying attention to the wave of responses. Here’s why.

The blogosphere and tabletscape is all crazy about Mike Arrington's "Web Tablet for under $200". I think it is a great idea and I hope they are serious, but I don't think that they are. What I do believe, and this is mere speculation, is that Mike is telling everyone that Apple is indeed releasing a web tablet: a larger iPhone or iPod Touch, better known as the Mac Tablet.

Here's why I think the TechCrunch Tablet isn't real: