Ars Technica reports that the latest iPhone OS 3.1 beta seeded to developers last week contains an updated USBConfiguration.plist with a new device reference. It is listed as “iProd1,1”. iProd0,1 had been referenced in a previous beta but it was assumed to be a prototype that was being tested, but without any other information about the device there wasn’t much to go on.

Apple doesn’t ship products with a leading zero in the identifier and brand new Apple products are usually identified as “1,1”, this leads myself and Ars Technica to believe that there is a product being developed by Apple which is close to release that will run iPhone OS. Although there isn’t a whole lot of information in this latest finding but, we do know that the device is close to launch. Also, Based on the device’s assigned descriptions it is likely it will have high-speed networking capabilities, not unlike the iPhone.

While it is possible that this device could be the much rumored tablet it is too early to tell for sure.

Update 8/10/09: With these latest rumors of the iPhone making its way to China with both WCDMA and a lack of Wi-Fi, is it possible that the iPhone coming to China may have a different device identification? I don’t really have any indication that this is the case but it is an interesting thought none the less.