A very interesting mystery has surfaced within the Gadget world over the past few weeks which has really gotten everybody wondering what’s going on, including us.
A mysterious company going by the name of TabCo has been doing all sorts of viral marketing over the past few weeks, and from what we can gather they have a completely new tablet device up their sleeves for us.
Perhaps the craziest stunt they’ve pulled so far involved hiring a team of sky-writing planes to write “FORGET THE FRUIT, GO TAB” in the Sky above New York on the day of Apple’s WWDC event. Check out the video below.
TabCo recently uploaded another video to their ‘whoisTabCo’ YouTube channel, this time an advert-type video which involves some guys having fun at a bar, with one of them strangely having a tablet of around9/10 inches in his back pocket. This chap has had a few beers and heads to the loo, at which point he passes out on the floor. An opportunist bar customer approaches the man and takes a look at the tablet, and shortly after that we see a tech-blogger assessing the tablet in an online video. The whole thing seems to be poking fun of the lost iPhone 4 prototype scandal involving Gizmodo that took place last year – check it out below.
The secretive company has a website too, of which a screenshot has been taken and placed at the top of this page. The website is strangely down right now (www.whoistabco.com), but you can view a cached version in plain text on Google. Their most recent blog post is as following – the part about the company being around ‘a couple decades ago’ is particularly interesting – is this Nokia?
“Lemmings – Lemmings are funny little creatures. They’re pretty darn cute, but they’re not very smart. Maybe you can think of something else that sure looks nice but doesn’t do a whole lot when it comes down to it. We’ll give you a hint—a couple decades ago this company might’ve been the one fighting against “businesses as usual.” It’s 2011, and it’s time for another reminder not to settle for the status quo. Step back from the ledge and embrace that “aha” moment—you’ll know it when you experience it. Join us as we lead you down a path that not many have dared venture, the path of change.”
Another video recently posted to the YouTube channel depicts a study group assessing the mystery tablet. The group discuss the “competition”, mentioning the iPad, Android Tablets, Microsoft Laptops, the Asus Padfone and the Motorola Xoom. One chap says the tablet is “the new Android” while another says “I’ve researched tablets and honestly this is entirely different”.The HP TouchPad and/or WebOS isn’t mentioned and neither is MeeGo, but we wouldn’t expect that to be mentioned in a discussion about tablets, or should we? The video is below.
Finally, TabCo has sent press invites to several websites today, but these aren’t your usual invites. The company has sent a ransom-note style invite which reads:
“People have been asking “who is TabCo” for weeks.
You’ll soon find out.
You’re invited to an exclusive feed of our web event where all will be revealed.
We’ll be streaming at 5PM GMT on Monday 15th of August.
In the meantime, here’s a puzzle to solve which will give you a little sneak peek.
Accompanying the note is a rubik’s cube which TabCo have kindly covered with clues. Each side has something different on it – one side shows the main guy from the video taken in the bar, who we are assuming to be TabCo’s CEO, while another shows a series of app icons, some of which deeply resemble Android icons – specifically the Camera, Settings and Contacts icon. There’s also an icon which looks alot like the iOS Facetime icon. Very puzzling indeed.
So what is TabCo? With the air-writing stunt and the hint to a company established 20 something years ago, we have to feel this isn’t a startup company or one with little funding. It has to be a well established tech company that we’ve heard of before, and one with plenty of cash to throw at advertising. Perhaps it’s the new Tablet range from Amazon?
Our bet is a new tablet division of Nokia which will use a modified MeeGo operating system, backed by Intel. What do you think TabCo is?
We’ll be keeping a very keen eye on the TabCo website and tuning in to their live announcement which takes place at 5PM GMT. Stay posted!
Via: Recombu