Apple: The Tablets and the Pad

Apple started the trend of an iPad, both in terms of the tablet and the word "pad", the name itself.

HP has announced its plans to build tablets based on Palm’s mobile WebOS platform, and has also requested a trademark for "PalmPad."On the other hand Research in Motion the mobile giant behind the BlackBerry now owns the "BlackPad.com" domain name for it’s much rumoured tablet device.

According to MobileCrunch, it appears that RIM acquired the domain name this month. Although owning a given domain doesn’t necessarily mean that the page gives the viewer information about the product but the fact that there is one such domain name taken, it has definitely added fuel to the "RIM’s making a tablet" fire.

News about a BlackBerry tablet has been buzzing since quite a few months now, and the most recent talk has it that the tablet might boast a 7-inch display, embedded 3G, dual cameras and a 1GHz processor — but RIM is still to confirm on that.

As MobileCrunch notes, the "BlackPad" name has been associated with the BlackBerry tablet rumors since May, although it’s also possible that we’re only talking a code name here. "Cobalt" has also been bandied about as another possible name, although that sounds like more of a code name than "BlackPad" does.