There has been some speculation that Apple’s touchscreen netbook offering will be released this year. Some even went as far as saying it will be dropping in October, and others even mentioned it could be debuting on Verizon. However, this latest one contradicts all that. The Mac tablet will apparently be released in early 2010, and not this year.

According to the report, the Macbook Touch (or whatever its called) has actually been in development for 4 years already, and it is only now that it has been approved by Steve Jobs for production next year. Its supposed specs include a 10-inch touchscreen (similar to previous reports), 3G connectivity, and runs on a custom ARM processor unlike most netbooks of today that have the Intel Atom processor at the helm. There’s still no leakage as to what it will definitely look like, but there’s a new artist rendition above for those whose imagination seems to have gone on a break.

This latest rumor probably won’t delight those already excited over the Macbook Nano Touch’s possible release this year. Nonetheless, this does, however, support the argument that Apple is indeed secretly working on a touchscreen netbook.

[appleinsider via engadget]