Confirming news first leaked by Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself, Apple this morning issued a press release officially announcing the big-box retailer as an iPad launch partner. Its only iPad launch partner–the release includes no mention of AT&T (T).

“iPad connects users with their apps and content in a far more intimate and fun way than ever before,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs enthused in the announcement. “We can’t wait for users to get their hands and fingers on it this weekend.”

Sales at Apple (AAPL) and Best Buy (BBY) stores will begin at 9 am Saturday, with Apple stores offering iPad workshops and a free Personal Setup service for customers looking for a bit of help getting their new iPads configured and loaded up with their favorite apps and media.

If you’re hoping to find iPad at Best Buy, you would do well to arrive early. Leaked documents from the retailer suggest its iPad inventories will be pretty slim, about 15 per store (see highlighted text below; click to enlarge).

Meanwhile, Mac Rumors and Mac Daily News both report that some the earliest of early adopters have begun receiving shipping notifications for their iPads.

[Best Buy Playbook Image Credit: TUAW.com]

FURTHER READING:

Launch Day iPads Sold Out

iPad Available at “Most Best Buy Stores” This Saturday

Apple Grabs iPad Trademark From Fujitsu

Apple Now Accepting iPad App Submissions

Early Supplies of iPad Accessories Dwindling?

Initial iPad Demand Greater Than Initial iPhone Demand

iPad TV?

Apple’s Tablet: Read Different?

Rumored Apple Netbook Actually an E-book?

Coming Soon From Apple: Big Touch?

iTablet: Apple’s Killer App for Higher Ed

COMPLETE IPAD COVERAGE

That rumor, posted to MacDailyNews this past June, generated quite a stir among Apple (AAPL) watchers, but nothing ever came of it. But new reports suggest Apple may have just such a device secreted away somewhere deep in the bowels of Infinite Loop. TechCrunch claims as much, reporting that “three independent sources close to Apple” say the company is working on a largeish iPod touch that features a seven-to-nine-inch screen. One even claims to have handled a prototype and says Apple is working with Asian OEMs to bring the device to market in late 2009.

Now like all Apple rumors, this one should be taken with a grain of salt, if not an entire salt lick. That said, if it proves true, the device described could be quite the game changer–especially if it supports handwriting recognition (entirely possible given the Chinese character recognition system already on the iPhone). As I said back in July, “a finger-as-stylus touchscreen Mac tablet would make a hell of a nice counterpart to Apple’s new MobileMe service, wouldn’t it? It would make a great e-book reader too–if Apple ever gets around to adding a bookstore to iTunes. And if Apple were to link it up to iTunes U, as it undoubtedly would, the Mac tablet might even become higher education’s killer app…a notebook, a textbook AND a MacBook–all in one.”

[Image credit: Flickr/ John Ellenich]