Apple’s tablet is a media and social gaming revolution in your hands

Apple's tablet will be a handheld media gaming machine designed to provide users with every byte of their daily media consumption.

Or so says analytics firm Flurry in their January 24 special report on Apple's tablet. The company believes it has identified around 50 devices "that match the characteristics of Apple's rumored tablet" and can "confidently" identify them as Apple's pre-release tablets.

According to Flurry, the identified machines - which are running on the unreleased iPhone OS 3.2 - have been used to download and test applications at Apple's Cupertino campus since October 2009.

Apple is widely expected to unveil its rumored tablet at a press event in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 27.

There has been much speculation about what the device will be capable of, who the company will target with their tablet, and where Apple will position the product in the market.

Judging by Flurry's report, games are a high priority for Apple's tablet. Entertainment, news, books and lifestyle applications will also feature on the device.

It is an area that Apple has very successfully tapped into and could further capitalize on with the integration of augmented reality and innovative new touch-sensitive gestures.

"With a larger screen, more memory, multi-touch and multi-tasking expected, games will play better than ever on Apple handheld devices," says Flurry VP Marketing, Peter Farago.

"The tablet device clearly targets consumers," he reveals. "The mix of applications observed comprises mainly of media and entertainment consumption as opposed to enterprise, productivity and computing. Specifically, popular tested apps include news, games, entertainment and lifestyle. In particular, there was a strong trend toward news, books and other kinds of daily media consumption, including streaming music and radio."

The social side of entertainment and gaming will also be addressed, with the tablet expected to provide new ways of sharing information between friends and family.

Farago explains, "[A]cross all applications detected, there was a strong theme of sharing and/or social interaction including social games, social networking, photo sharing and utilities like file transfer applications."

Apple's tablet will be a highly interactive device designed to be shared with other people in the family and to be your companion when you leave the house.

"The device is positioned to appeal to the users who are out?and?about rather than compete directly against the TV, stereo and game console in the living room," said Farago. "With supply chain reports from Asia that light?weight 10.1" LCD and OLED screen components are in short supply due to large purchases presumably by Apple, we can surmise that the device will be thin and light, designed for portability."

Apple's slate, if introduced, would not be the first Mac-powered tablet to be sold on the market. US-based company Axiotron pioneered the Mac-powered tablet back in 2007 at the Macworld Conference & Expo. Axiotron's Modbook is currently the only Mac-powered range of tablets (officially) available for sale.

The full report can be read at: http://blog.flurry.com/bid/30019/Apple-Tablet-The-Second-Stage-Media-Booster-Rocket