Euro filing reveals Apple handheld design images

A recently uncovered Apple filing for a European design trademark may provide a tantalizing glimpse of the company's long-awaited tablet "handheld computer", according to the Register.

The filing, made in May of this year but only published this week, describes a "handheld computer" and contains sketches of what looks like a smaller iBook screen that has shed the remainder of its body.

The document lists Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the company's industrial design chief, Jonathan Ive. The filing also refers to other key members of Apple's industrial design team such as Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Eugene Whang, Matthew Rohrbach, Bart Andre, Calvin Seid and Christopher Stringer.

Apple design trademark sketches of purported Apple handheld.

Artist rendition of purported Apple handheld.

Rumors that Apple was working on a handheld or tablet product emerged in 2003 when a source close to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Quanta claimed that the company had been hired by Apple to build what was dubbed a "wireless display." However, the news was reported by DigiTimes, which has a history of reporting on Apple products that never emerge.

Apple's description of the "handheld computer" in the registration filing sounds more like a PDA than a full sized computer. The filing most likely refers to an Apple PDA product that was ousted earlier in the year.

In June, AppleInsider published an exclusive report on comments made by Jobs during the private Wall Street Journal D: All Things Digital conference. During a question and answer session, Jobs stated that he is proud not only of the products Apple has shipped, but also the products Apple has decided not to ship, specifying an Apple PDA.