Apple all but confirms tablet after website offers bounty for leaked information

Tech giant Apple has all but confirmed the existence of a tablet device after sending a cease and desist letter to a Silicon Valley blog offering money for information or a hands-on with the gadget.

But the blog says it will continue to offer rewards for any person who can release information about the tablet “within the bounds of the law”.

Earlier this week the Valleywag blog posted rewards worth up to $US100,000 for information or documented evidence of the Apple tablet. While the company is expected to announce the device later this month, it has so far released no details about the product, with some analysts even questioning its existence.

But the bounty offer shows how much an Apple tablet device is anticipated by the tech community.

Valleywag offered $US10,000 for pictures, $US20,000 for videos, $US50,000 for a photo or video with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs holding the tablet and a grand prize of $US100,000 for letting any of the blog’s staff “play with one for an hour”.

The post was labelled as a cheeky attempt to gain information, but Apple fuelled the rumour mill after sending the blog a cease-and-desist letter, claiming it could be prompting Apple employees to breach their contracts.

But Valleywag didn’t take the letter too harshly, announcing legal firm Menlo Park had become the first winner in the blog’s scavenger hunt.

“The most concrete proof of the messiah machine’s existence so far landed in our inbox last night,” it said, and congratulated Michael Spillner from Menlo Park as the winner.

“Your “Letter from Apple” demanding we stop the Scavenger Hunt — specifically the line “Apple has maintained the types of information and things you are soliciting … in strict confidence” — is the most concrete evidence (from Apple itself, no less!) yet that there may indeed be a tablet in the works.”

The letter states while Apple appreciates “vibrant public commentary”, it believes Valleywag crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of trade secrets.

“The information you are willing to pay for, such as photos of a yet-to-be released product, constitutes Apple trade secrets.”

“Apple has maintained the types of information and things you are soliciting—”how it’ll work, its size, the name, the software,” as well as any possible details about the product’s appearance, features, and physical samples—in strict confidence.”

While Spillner didn’t necessarily fulfil the scavenger hunt’s guidelines, Valleywag nevertheless awarded him with a $25 gift card for the Microsoft Zune marketplace, a DVD of Legally Blonde 2 and “a fabulous set of steak knives”.

The incident comes ahead of an expected product announcement from Apple, with the company booking the main stage at a San Francisco events hall for 27 January.