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At this point, yes, an Apple tablet is all but a given. If Apple doesn’t make the announcement on Wednesday the faithful (and the shareholders) are likely to torch the village. But one thing we still don’t know is what the tablet will be called. Well, a recent, fairly innocuous press release about an iPhone crossword app seems fairly certain the tablet will be called the iPad.

Stand Alone, Inc. announced today they’ve been working on a “larger” version of their Crosswords iPhone app. The headline reads, “Crosswords iPhone App Coming to the upcoming iPad device.” iPad? Okay, is that a guess? Something less significant? Or is it a slip?

I’m not going to put much weight on this, although it is fun to consider. Is Apple going to go the “i” route with this as with the iMac, iPod and iPhone, or stick with the more straightforward “Apple tablet,” as with “Apple TV?”

So, is iSlate any better? iTablet? Apple tablet? Quite honestly, we’re too close to the event to worry too much about it. We’ll find out soon enough.

More interesting than the usage of the term “iPad” is what the developers are doing with Crosswords to get it ready for the Apple tablet. According to Stand Alone president Ben Gottlieb, “We have been anticipating the Apple tablet as the greatest piece of hardware for App developers since [the] iPhone itself, and Crosswords will be even better on the new device. The goal is to utilize the larger screen, but keep both the functionality and the sleek, intuitive, custom design that our users love.”

Hopefully, this is an approach all app developers take with the tablet. We don’t just want larger buttons and images, we want a clean layout that maximizes the rumored 10” screen with options for easy navigation and usage. Having a touch device with buttons that are actually large enough to be touched will be great, provided developers don’t let the UI take over the design, as we’ve seen with many of the artist mock-ups.

Whether iPhone developers will be able to make this jump to a larger screen, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Before we worry about that, let’s first worry about getting an official announcement.

Oh, and a name. To find out what it’ll be, join our Apple event live blog tomorrow starting at 12:00 noon EST for complete coverage of the announcement. Before then, be sure catch up on the latest Apple tablet rumors, as well.

Product [Crosswords]