Rumors about Apple working on a tablet have been around since early 2000, however, since the launch of iPhone those rumors have become louder and during past two weeks rumors have gone ballistic. Some analysts like Gen Munster from Piper Jaffray asserted that Apple would debut the rumored tablet in first half of 2010, while other analysts still maintain that we will see the new tablet this year.

The sudden rise in Apple tablet rumors is mainly due to increased pressure on Apple to compete in netbook market, which is eating up the traditional PC market in these hard economic times. Apple has always maintained it doesn’t want to offer junk computer to enter the sub-$500 netbook market. The company says it will enter the market if it can bring innovation to the netbook category, like Apple did in the smartphone market with the iPhone.

The latest Apple tablet rumors are based on the news that Wintek is working with Apple on development of 10-inch touchscreen panels. Though Wintek didn’t comment on the rumor, but it is believed Apple will base their upcoming tablet around this 10-inch touchscreen. Our sources in the computer manufacturing industry say that Apple is definitely working on a device in tablet form factor. So now the question remains – When is Apple going to release the tablet?

According to the same sources, even though Apple has been testing the final design prototype of the device for about a month now, they haven’t decided a launch date yet. May be Apple is waiting to get the software right before launch or may they want Steve Jobs to return to Apple with announcement of the next big thing. Whatever may be the reason, our sources say most analysts are just guesstimating. For example Gen Munster has published at least eight times in past two-three years that Apple will soon launch Mac tablet, but till now we haven’t seen one.

No one has any concrete information about when Apple will launch the rumored tablet. However, we can say that Apple is in final stages of design development for the said tablet and it won’t be long before we seen the actual device.