Developers being asked to ready apps for full screen/ 7-inch [Update:Munster, BGR]

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Apple has asked a few select developers to ready a full screen mode of their apps for a demo next month. Obviously, with all of the tablet chatter and specifically the Financial Times’ report yesterday (and iLounge’s earlier report) of a January announcement, it would seem to indicate this would be for a tablet announcement, though an AppleTV update could also be a recipient of a full screen app update.

Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite Piper Analyst Gene Munster is giving 75% odds on a January announcement and 50% odds on a Tablet.  He also lays out the following:

• If the tablet were announced in January, he would expect it to ship some time in Apple’s second fiscal quarter. “Based on a conversation this week with a Taiwanese component supplier,” he writes, “we expect Apple to ship a tablet device by the end March.”
• Munster had previously estimated a monthly run rate of 162,000 units once the table ships (about 2 million annually). “Assuming the tablet comes out in [March],” he writes, “we believe Apple would sell around 1.4 [million] units at a $600 ASP in [calendar year 2010], an increase of about 2% to revenue.”
• Other reasons for a January event: to launch a new iPod touch with a video camera, or a new Apple TV that could support a subscription TV service

Quoth the Munster:

“We expect the tablet hardware to be similar to an iPod touch but larger (about 10″); we expect the key differentiator of the device to be its software. While there are several options ranging from a touch screen Mac OS X to an iPhone-like OS, we expect the tablet to be driven by a new version of Apple’s iPhone OS that runs a new category of larger apps alongside all the current apps from the App Store. We believe Apple’s tablet would compete well in the netbook category even though it would not be a netbook. Rather it would focus more on apps, entertainment content (from the iTunes Store), and web surfing.”

And to round it all up, the BGR is saying that the January announcement of the tablet will definitely be a 7-incher, not just the 10-incher we’ve heard so so much about.