Ok, so most of the information that has come out so far has been nothing more than rumour and speculation, some reliable and likely, some not. Its often easy enough to sift through the credibility of various sources and conjure a specification sheet for a device as highly anticipated as this, but never, and I mean never, has a credible source been confident enough as to confirm an Apple device before the words have been uttered by stage Steve himself. The Wall Street Journal announced today that Apple is releasing a tablet computer.

As well as confirming the existence of the device and its launch next week here are some of the more interesting snippets from the full article:

• Targeting the lucrative education market e-textbooks would appear to be on the cards, presumably including the sort of multimedia content that goes beyond the printed page.
• Apple has also been courting several other big names including Harper Collins, The New York Times, and even CBS, Walt Disney Co, and Electronic Arts.
• A fresh (and much needed) facelift for iTunes, which would separate the purchase of iTunes content from the iTunes application.
• The device will have a 10 or 11 inch screen, a virtual keyboard, and “sharing” is mentioned — two ideas being thrown around are the ability to leave sticky notes on the device or even have the camera recognize faces of those using it.
• Priced at around $1000 as a stand-alone it is heavily suggested that Apple will be offering the tablet to people who already have iPhones and laptops as well.