Apple To Release Touch-Enabled 22-Inch iMac This Year

If a quick and dirty report is to believed, touch computing is about to go to new levels in 2010. DigiTimes is reporting that Apple will be launching a 22-inch “all-in-one” PC later this year, at an unspecified target date. The information comes courtesy of Chinese publication China Times [translated] and notes that the Cupertino-based software and hardware giant will be outsourcing production of the 22-inch model’s touch panels to Taiwan-based Sintek Photronic.

What’s interesting about this report is that “PC” is mentioned, not “iMac”. Sure, you could say that “PC” only stands for personal computer — and it does — but that’s sure to confuse a lot of people.

Could Apple be releasing a computer designed to run with Microsoft’s Windows operating system? We highly, highly doubt it, but it certainly never hurts to speculate once in a while.

What’s also interesting about this unofficial announcement of sorts is the ergonomics of the entire idea. We can’t speak for everybody, but picturing ourselves consistently reaching over to the screen of an iMac for touch input would quickly become tiring for the arms, not to mention downright annoying.

For now, we’ll let this simmer and get back to this story when we’ve learned some more concrete details.

[ image via Gadgetsteria ]