There have long been rumors that Apple was working on a new ultraportable computing device, either a thin and light laptop or even a tablet computer. The tablet computer speculation took on new credibility with a report from Cnet's Crave UK Web site that the Taiwanese manufacturer Asus is working with Apple on a new tablet PC.

Asus is one of Apple's major contract manufacturers, and is one of the suppliers responsible for building Apple's previous and current laptop computers, the iBook, PowerBook, and MacBook.