Look for an Apple version of Intel’s MID (Mobile Internet Device) tablet, with probably a 7-inch widescreen, multitouch, that will be more like a big-brother to the iPod Touch, and a very nice WiFi web browser, portable movie viewer (yeah, rent them movies from iTunes!).

Yes we will be able to read some ebooks on it, but it’s likely the thing will not be ‘open’ in the sense Mac-OSX is but ‘closed’ the way the iPhone-OSX is. That means Safari only, alas, until someone hacks a version of Firefox for it. I do hope and expect a Firefox extension to read epub files, and that OpenOffice.org v3 will read epub files too, maybe with an extension.

And it will be expensive, because though those 7-inch screens are starting to show up in volume, adding multitouch boosts costs quite a bit, and the thing MUST cost a good deal more than the iPod Touch to preserve sales of that gizmo.

I wonder if it will be flash-memory only, or include a hard drive? Also a downer, Apple will probably follow the iPod and iPhone here and dis-include a slot for SD or other expandable memory.

http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/for-the-record-apple-and-ebooks/

http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/the-three-big-as-apple-amazon-adobe/

And it’ll probably be called the iPod Air:

http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/is-apples-tablet-the-ipod-air/

Don’t know what ebook format it could be. It’d be like Apple to make its own — with DRM.

Hmmm… what happened to Comment preview here?

As for the consumer level, yes, .epub is now my preferred format and I notice that Yoda feels the same way. There are more .epub boosters around than you might realize. I hope the Open Source community will join the FBReader and OpenBerg and provide good software. That’ll help. We’re in chicken-and-egg territory: I hardly consider DE to be the ultimate reading experience. The right software would help.

Also please remember that big publishers are still fixated on DRM and .epub lacks an accompanying “protection” standard. That could change. Of course I hope that houses will think about alternatives such as social DRM or, better, none. Significantly, Random House released a preview of Beautiful Children without DRM. So maybe there’s some hope.

I doubt that publishers have signed a secret exclusive deal with Apple. If Robert Ludlum were still alive, however, this might make a good Ludlum conspiracy novel.

Thanks,
David

I’ve seen a lot of rumours about Apple buying Adobe.
With a tablet that can be used as an ebook reader they would have another reason.
They would have PDF plus this new Digital Editions thing.

Afterall… how comes nobody uses DE? No product.
Even though publishers are supposedly embracing the format.
Have they already signed a secret an exclusive deal with Apple and are they just waiting for the device to be announced? Is it why DE did not appear in Kindle, the updated SONY reader or anything else?

I forgot about epub when I was writing my previous post. You’re right, it is a possibility. Even if Apple adds DRM.

More realistically, your eReader possibility might be the next best thing, given that it doesn’t have a DRM-created device limit. Now here’s something really wild. What if Apple not only used eReader but bought up Fictionwise, so that it oculd release the tablet with lots and lots of books available? Before Steve P writes in, naw, that probably won’t happen, either.

But with so many long shots, maybe, just maybe, one will end up a short shot, eh?

Thanks,
David

The other problem is co-branding. What ebook format would the device use? Sony is doubtful; it’s the weakest major format. Mobipocket is also unlikely; aPple would be at the whim of their direct competitor. MSReader is almost a possible, but unlikely. Unless aPple buys it from MS. I think Ereader is the most likely candidate.

Of course, apple could start their own format, but that might kill the device.