Times exec hints at Apple tablet

Gawker reports that Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times, may have outed the mythical Apple tablet. At a supposedly off-the-record meeting (which someone graciously preserved on Vimeo) with the entirety of Times' Web staff Keller gave us this tantalizing nugget:

I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.

While it looks more like hyberbole, the Apple community is hanging on any shred of tablet rumor or conjecture that comes down the pike these days. Keller's comments are far from a confirmation that an Apple tablet is imminent, but when you add his voice to the chorus of theories and rumors that abound about the tablet – a case can certainly be made.

Another interesting tablet tidbit that surfaced over the weekend (via Engadget) is this picture (below) of a SIM tray allegedly from Foxconn (the rumored Apple tablet manufacturer). According to the report the updated tray will be available for $14.05 starting October 23rd. Its chunkier appearance has set the rumor mill aflutter that it would be suitable for a larger GSM device – whatever that could be.

Are the Keller comments and new chunky SIM tray just wishful thinking by the Apple faithful, or are they the proverbial smoke that precedes a fire?