Of late, there have been predictions galore about the expected release of Apple's 'under-the-wraps' tablet PC! While The Financial Times had reported that Apple would likely announce the new device at the iPod event in September - and possibly ship it in November - Piper Jaffray senior analyst, Gene Munster, recently said that he expects the tablet to be out in late 2009 or early 2010!

In addition, Munster - in a Friday report - has also said that an undisclosed component supplier in Asia has received orders from Apple. Munster further said that Apple would, in all likelihood, sell $1.2 billion worth of its tablet PCs in the very first year of the availability of the singular device.

Elaborating on the projected revenue from the tablet, Munster said that Apple an anticipated sale of nearly 2 million tablets, in the $500-$700 price-range, can be averaged to reach the $1.2 billion revenue figure - thereby implying a 3 percent addition to Apple's 2010 revenue!

Though there have been different guesses about the expected release of the Apple tablet, there appears to be somewhat of a consensus about the features of the device
- like its 10-inch diagonal screen size; an ARM chip; Wi-Fi connection; and 3G wireless capabilities. The Times reported that the tablet would basically have the same capabilities as iPod Touch, except for the bigger screen