Orange France VP Confirms Apple Tablet On-Air?

Securing a deal with Apple is the kind of thing any carrier executive would want to crow about, but we're still somewhat dubious about Orange France VP Stéphane Richard's apparent on-air confirmation of the Apple iSlate tablet. Interviewed by French radio station Europe1, Richard is asked about the persistent rumors that Apple will announce a webcam-enabled Tablet in a few days time, something to which he answers yes; he then – in one interpretation – goes on to confirm that Orange customers would benefit from such a device.

Jean Pierre Elkabbach: "According to the weekly Le Point, a few days your partner Apple will launch a Tablet with a webcam"

Stéphane Richard: "Yes"

Jean Pierre Elkabbach: "Is that Orange users will also benefit"

Stéphane Richard, "Sure!"

Now, SlashGear's French is of the rudimentary variety, and the above exchange comes courtesy of Google Translate.  We're cautious about accepting this at face value for a number of reasons, not least that we'd expect a carrier exec to be more media-savvy when it comes to prematurely scooping Apple's always-secret wares.

There's also some room for interpretation in his answers.  The way interviewer Elkabbach phrases his initial question, Richard's "Yes" could be an agreement that yes, an Apple tablet is on the way, or merely that yes, newspaper Le Point did suggest that fact.  What little French we do know – yes, we can recognize "le webcam"! – confirms that when asked about Orange customers benefitting, Richard talks about how they can use webcams for video calls, rather than how they could benefit from a tablet.

Confirmation of an Apple iSlate headed to Orange France?  We're not sure about that; we'll have to wait and see whether Apple's rumored January 27th launch event pans out.  We've snipped out the relevant section of the interview in the video below:

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[via Nowhere Else]