New Apple Tablet Evidence Surfaces: Around 50 Test Devices Identified
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A new report by mobile analytics firm Flurry concludes that the Apple Tablet indeed exists, that about 50 test units are housed at Apple’s headquarters, and that it is primarily a media machine for gaming.
Flurry’s analytics platform, because it’s run on thousands of different applications worldwide, is able to measure data such as OS, location, and engagement. In its data, Flurry has discerned that a group of about 50 devices are running the yet-unreleased iPhone OS 3.2 software, all of which have been geographically pinpointed to be located on Apple’s main Cupertino, CA campus.
Flurry concludes that these devices are most likely the fabled Apple Tablets that we expect to be announced on January 27th, though the company traces testing on these devices back to “as early as October of last year.” App usage has increased dramatically this month, consistent with what we’d expect for an Apple-built tablet.
Approximately 200 of the apps that Flurry tracks were downloaded onto these mystery devices. Approximately 75% of the apps downloaded, ~150, fall into the gaming category, with entertainment, books, and lifestyle apps being the next most popular. Here’s a graph depicting the downloads: