In pictures: tablet computers

1998: Bob Wright of Sharp Electronics transforms the new Sharp Mobilon Tripad into a tablet for use as a digital notepad
Photograph: Getty Images

2001: President and chief operating officer of Sony Corporation, Kunitake Ando, shows the crowd a Sony Tablet computer during his keynote address at Comdex in Las Vegas
Photograph: Reuters

2002: A computer technician checks the latest tablet PC by Taiwanese company Leo during a press conference in Taipei
Photograph: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images

2002: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announces of the availability of Tablet PCs and the Windows XP Tablet PC operating system in New York
Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

2002: Bill Gates launches the Microsoft Tablet PC in New York
Photograph: Rex Features

2002: Fujitsu's Tablet PC is unveiled in Tokyo. The Tablet PC, a flat laptop-style computer, allows users to write with a pen, jot down and exchange notes, as well as convert them to text
Photograph: Toshiyuki Aizawa/Reuters

2003: Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates talks about a new Tablet PC Windows operating system during a keynote address at Comdex
Photograph: Reuters

2002: The new Tablet PC, which runs on Windows XP, on display at the Microsoft CEO Summit in Redmond, Washington
Photograph: Ron Wurzer/Getty Images

2006: A Microsoft hostess presents a "Ultra Mobile Personal Computer" (UMPC), a mini-laptop computer that generated months of buzz under the code name "Origami", during the 2006 CeBIT information and telecommunication technology fair in Hanover
Photograph: David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images

2007: Nokia's new Linux-powered N800 Internet Tablet is used to browse Google at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

2010: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer delivers his keynote address at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, where he showcased the new touch-enabled Slate from HP
Photograph: Dave Smith/Microsoft

2010: The Lenovo IdeaPad U1, a hybrid laptop that features a detachable slate-style tablet screen, on show at a press preview event for the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show
Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

2010: A Viliv convertible tablet computer featuring an Intel Atom chipset on display at the 2010 CES in Las Vegas
Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

2010: A Micro-Star International touchscreen tablet computer on display at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show
Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

2010: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shows off Slate PCs from (left to right) Archos, Pegatron and Hewlett-Packard at the 2010 CES in Las Vegas
Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

A concept illustration of what the new new tablet computer from Apple might look like
Photograph: Public Domain

Another concept illustration of what Apple's tablet computer might look like, seen here next to an iPhone
Photograph: Isamu Sanada

Yet another concept illustration of what Apple's tablet computer – possibly to be called an iTablet or iSlate – might look like
Photograph: Public Domain

Gizmodo's guess at what the Apple tablet computer might look like … tomorrow we should find out for certain
Photograph: Gizmodo