HTC's first tablet outed as HTC Scribe?

The HTC Scribe trademark application filing
The HTC Scribe trademark application filing

HTC's inevitable foray into the tablet market looks imminent after the Taiwanese firm trademarked the HTC Scribe name.

The trademark application was filed for a 'handheld wireless device, namely a tablet computer' and the assumption is that this device will see HTC joining the Android-powered iPad rivals' race.

The application doesn't give away much more than the name of the device and the date of the filing (Boxing Day, if you're interested) but we'd imagine it will be running Honeycomb and therefore have a high resolution screen and dual-core innards.

We'd be surprised if the HTC Scribe name actually made it to the model we see on our shelves, as we doubt it's going to come with a pen device a la the tablets of the early 21st century.

Somethin's a-brewin'

HTC looks set to announce something big at CES or Mobile World Congress this year, and in addition to the standard Desire and Legend refreshes it wouldn't be a surprise to see a new tablet turn up too.

This would mean a UK release date of around March or April, and given HTC's recent track record, a not-too-ridiculous UK price could follow as well.

TechRadar is patrolling the floors of CES as we speak, so if nothing turns up there we'll turn our tablet-focused laser sights to the halls of Barcelona for MWC in February.

From Bloomberg via Phone Arena

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.