Apple iSlate to get Jack Bauer as a co-star in 24?

Apple’s Tablet is bound to become this year’s gadget must-have if it does appear later today but it seems like 24’s perennially imperilled hero Jack Bauer could be among the first to get an Apple iSlate. Is the Apple iSlate/iPad/iTablet ready for its close-up?

Fox, makers of 24, are apparently in the process of doing a deal with Apple to get the Apple iSlate into a forthcoming episode of the time sensitive terror drama. The rumour comes from a pretty credible source. Rodney Charters, 24’s director of photography who’s been tweeting his excitement.

Charters followed a major American publisher in tipping the cat out of the bag with a fairly matter-of-fact tweet: “Hmmm looks like we may get an iSlate into Jack’s hands for Ep 20. Getting giddy with excitement.”

The current series of 24 is up to episode 5 but Charters subsequently changed his estimate to suggest the Apple iTablet will actually take a starring role in episode 22 which would most likely hit screens in May but be filmed far earlier.

Apple and Fox have had a long-standing relationship on 24. Charters notes that the show has had “Apple product placement since season 1”. In the latest season of 24 (its eighth), Apple iMacs and Macbook Pros have been prominent in the CTU office.

While Charters called the forthcoming Apple device, the iSlate, he admitted in a subsequent tweet that his choice of name was “all speculation”, going on to say: “I have no concrete knowledge, this could all be a bluff.” That suggests that Charters has heard whispers from Apple but is aware of its penchant for controlled leaks.

Oddly, despite seemingly dropping a juicy nugget about Apple’s most anticipated product ever. Charters has expressed surprise that anyone might be interested in his tweets: “Oh dear. Seems like the geeks have gone a little overboard over my speculation that Jack Bauer might get an iSlate.”