The Apple iPad, touted as "amazing," "magical," and "revolutionary" by company executives, made its debut at a San Francisco event yesterday, as readers are doubtless already aware. (Many have quipped that the device is the most eagerly awaited tablet since Moses came down from the mountain.)

Of course, the iPad -- which runs the iPhone OS and applications scaled up to 1024 x 768 resolution -- is hardly the world's first tablet computer. Most existing devices have smaller screens, however, or use x86 processors and thus cannot match the Apple product's claimed 10-hour battery life. (For a comprehensive look at what's already out there, see our regularly updated Windows-powered mobile tablets, webpads, UMPCs, and MIDs showcase.)

Fujitsu's iPAD (left) and Apple's iPad (right)
(Click either to enlarge)

More surprising, however, is that the device isn't even the first "iPad." In 2006, Fujitsu introduced an "iPAD" (different capitalization, same spelling) running Windows CE on a 520MHz Marvell PXA270 processor. As we covered at the time, the device -- which appears to be still on sale -- is a handheld computer designed for retailers, with a built-in barcode scanner, magnetic card reader, and wireless networking.

Windows CE and Windows Mobile are the dominant operating systems when it comes to the handheld computers employed by retailers on their sales floors and warehouses. Until recently, even Apple's retail stories used Windows-based handhelds manufactured by Symbol.

But, Microsoft's success in this arena is usually ignored by pundits who focus on the consumer market. In this case, it seems to have been ignored by Apple's trademark laywers as well.

Now, Fujitsu -- said to have first applied for the iPAD trademark in 2003 -- is crying foul. Masahiro Yamane, director of Fujitsus public relations division, is quoted by The New York Times as saying, "It's our understanding that the name is ours."

"Mobile is a keyword for Fujitsu's iPAD, too," Yamane is said to have added. "With the iPAD, workers dont have to keep running back to a computer. They have everything right at their fingertips."

According to The New York Times, Fujitsu's trademark application stalled because of an earlier filing by Mag-Tech, a California company that had apparently applied the name to a "handheld number-encrypting device," but was revived in June 2009. Apple lawyers reportedly have until Feb. 28 to say whether they will oppose Fujitsu's claims to the iPad name.

As Times writer Hiroko Tabuchi further adds, there are other iPads around the world. For example, she writes, Siemens uses the name for engines and motors, while a Canadian lingerie company, Coconut Grove Pads, has the right to market iPad padded bras.

Apple lawyers are unlikely to be quaking in their boots, however, since the company previously weathered a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Cisco over the iPhone name. In Jan. 2007, Cisco charged that it had owned the iPhone trademark since 2000, when it acquired Infogear, a maker of IP-based phones. Just one month later, however, the companies agreed to dismiss any pending legal actions and said both Apple and Cisco would be free to use the trademark globally.

Further information

For background information on the iPhone trademark dispute between Apple and Cisco, see a Cisco blog entry here and press release, here, and the subsequent Apple release, here.

For Hiroko Tabuchi's The New York Times article referenced earlier in this story, go here.

For more information on Fujitsu's iPAD, see our earlier story, here, and Fujitsu's website, here.

For more details of Apple's iPad, see Apple's website, here, and coverage by our sister publication eWEEK.com, here.

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• Windows-powered mobile tablets, webpads, UMPCs, and MIDs
• Windows CE handheld supports "pervasive retailing"
• The Windows Mobile Device Showcase