Mac Tablet/Mega iPod Touch due fall 2009 who knows when

Today's Apple-product rumor comes from TechCrunch: a seven- or nine-inch iPod Touch, to be released in the fall of 2009.

The CrunchieFolk don't offer any hard proof of this impending Fat Man to the iPod Touch's Little Boy, other than claiming they received their information "from three independent sources close to Apple" and that "prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources."

This iPod Venti would be, essentially, the fulfillment of many years of tablet-Mac rumors. Here are but a few that have graced the web:

• eWEEK, November 2002, "Waiting for the Mac Tablet":

  "It's my strong belief - let's call it a hunch - that prototype Mac tablets are already making the rounds among select developers."

• Engadget, May 2005, "Apple's patented the Tablet Mac"

  "[Tablet-Mac rumors] became substantiated today when Apple's secret plans for a tablet PC were ... revealed.

• CutMeLoose.com, May 2005, "Apple Tablet PC sightings"

  "I have no less than 5 sources saying an Apple Tablet announcement is due soon."

• Cnet UK, November 2007, "Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus"

  "You can bet your bottom dollar [a tablet Mac] is being built as you read this."

• Mac|Life, January 2008, "The Apple Tablet Mac: 8 Reasons It’s Gonna Happen"

  "The tablet rumor has been around for the last couple years, but now, all the ducks are in a row."

• ZDNet, May 2008, "Tablet Mac coming this fall"

  "A little birdy tells me that Apple will announce a 12 or 13-inch tablet in the fall of this year."

• Wired, July 2008, "Apple to Launch MacBook Touch?"

  "The blogosphere is aflutter with rumors of a touchscreen Mac tablet."

• Industry Standard, December 2008, "Apple announces Mac tablet at Macworld 2009?"

  "Could this 6 year old rumor finally come true?"

And neither has The Reg been immune to tablet temptations. Witness:

• December 2003, "Delayed tablet Mac to launch next month?"

  "Apple's much-rumoured launch of a tablet-style device may come to fruition early next year."

• August 2004, "Euro filing reveals Apple 'handheld computer'"

  "Apple may finally be about to bring [the tablet Mac] to market."

But at least we stopped in 2004.

As tempting as it may be to glom onto yet another tablet-Mac rumor, and as enticing as Apple's tablet-oriented patent filings may be, we'll believe in a keyboard-free, bigger-than-an-iPhone, tablet-like iPod or full-scale tablet Mac when we hold one in our cynical little hands.

And there's no Santa Claus, either. ®