iSlate web domain

Apple tonight was discovered through WHOIS records to have acquired the domain iSlate.com (currently inactive) two years ago. The company is known to have picked up the domain in 2007 and used the registrar MarkMonitor to keep the ownership secret. However, MacRumors has discovered that Apple’s name was exposed for a few weeks until the identity was suppressed again.

The acquisition suggests that Apple has at least considered using the iSlate name for a product such as its rumored tablet. It’s nonetheless an uncertain prospect as Apple is known to register domains out of speculation, choosing them to safeguard potential product names rather than as a sign it has committed to an actual product. Apple registered iPhone.org as early as December 1999, several years before it had even begun work on what would become the shipping iPhone.