Of all the rumors swirling around the Apple Tablet expected to be announced on Wednesday, the one most everyone can agree on is that it will be used as a full color electronic reader which will put Amazon’s Kindle to shame. Over the past few weeks, Apple has been negotiating a flurry of last-minute deals directly with book publishers such as HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill. Magazine and newspaper publishers are salivating to get on the device. But one unanswered question so far is whether Apple will add books and magazines to iTunes or create an entirely new e-book store from scratch.
We believe there is a good chance there will be a Barnes & Noble bookstore built into the Apple Tablet, either as one of the showcase apps which launches with the device, powering a new book section in iTunes, or integrated directly into the Tablet’s e-reader. The two companies are thought to be working closely together, increasing the likelihood that Barnes & Noble will be part of the announcement on Wednesday. While Apple can run around cutting deals with the larger publishers, a built-in Barnes & Noble bookstore could include up to a million titles in one fell swoop, just like on B&N’s own Nook reader. Barnes & Noble already offers an eReader app for the iPhone (iTunes link) which lets you download and read electronic books on the smaller device. That app could be paving the way for an eReader or book store on the Tablet.
Of course, Amazon also has a Kindle app for the iPhone which allows people to buy electronic books from its store. We don’t know whether Apple is also working with Amazon for Wednesday’s launch, although given the recent moves by Amazon to shore up the Kindle in anticipation of Apple’s technicolor onslaught seeing them on stage would be really surprising. Allowing Amazon to create a Kindle app for the Tablet, though, seems more reasonable. After all, Apple wants to sell Tablets. If it doesn’t have to get into the bookstore business to do that, why should it?
For Barnes & Noble, however, if it can manage to become the default bookstore on the Tablet, or simply squeeze its app into a preferred slot, it could make real inroads against the Kindle. An Apple Tablet tied to a Barnes & Noble digital bookstore must be Jeff Bezos’ worst nightmare.
The tablet is an education product.
Here’s what we do see. Using the tablet, we turn over healthcare to the government, just like we turned over education, and now we have some of the worst educated citizenry in the world.
The tabled is a trojan product to rule the world.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. The reason why education in the US sucks is because of the teachers’ union. Any and every fool is given tenure which breeds apathy and laziness.
Other countries have universal health care and kick our butt in the quality of health AND education.
Most of us are already tired of paying bills in real life, and we just want something that’s free and that’s why we venture the net. Obviously, this report portray the what just the average, normal individuals do on the net. The question is, is it wrong?
All the while we heard rumored reports that Harper Collin Publisher will also try to sell e-books diectly to iTunes once the Apple tablet has been unveiled.. Pff, Hopefully this won’t spell a new shift to the news world.. Giving “TOLL-FEE” to every news we read.
Details: http://bit.ly/iphone-4g-apple-tablet-details
Yeah, but the kindle is light, and I can read in bed with one hand, and the battery (with 3G turned off) lasts for at least a month. For actual book reading – you know – what Kindle is designed for – Apple tablet won’t compete (for me anyway).
I’m sure you will buy one sooner or later…
Wow Apple will crush the kindle just like that….. but I still don’t see why we need a tablet……
I am with you on this one.
maybe to show off to kindle users?
It’s not going to crush the kindle you fool. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
I don’t need one. At home I’ll use my PC and on the go I’ll use my iphone for browsing. I don’t want to be seen in public reading on an apple tablet.
So after revolutionizing the computer, music, mobile phone, and video production industries, Apple is revolutionizing publishing? Impressive.
It would be great if we had a e-book buy/sell site, I don’t really see the point in buying an e-book since I cannot resell it. Frankly it should be called e-book renting not buying.
Can’t you load pdf with the kindle ?? if yes so you can sell and buy books ??
And go to jail perhaps?
One day, someone will have the sense create a device or application that works with all book sellers. One day, someone will have the sense to sell ebooks that work on all devices and applications.
But, like digital music, I guess we’ll have to suffer through a frustrating decade of various industries trying desperately and futilely to lock individual retailers to individual devices first.
Meanwhile, there’s BitTorrent and countless billions of dollars of sales lost to the stupidity of the publishing industry not selling what people want in the format they want.
Apple is going to blow the lid off the e-reader market before there even is a real market for these devices. You’ve got to hand it to Steve Jobs, they’re always looking to take the innovation at least a couple of steps ahead of everyone else.
Except Amazon. And Sony. And Barnes and Noble.
While I certainly believe that if there is a Tablet announced on Wednesday, one of the apps will be an e-reader. To think it directly competes with the Kindle or Nook is a bit silly? From every account I’ve read, there’s no way the tablet would be less than $1000. That’s nearly 4x the cost of the Kindle. Plus having a full technicolor view of a book might not really be the best reading experience, the e-readers are interesting because I can read them in the sun, and I actually need a night-light to read them in the dark. Bright lights probably aren’t the best thing for already overtaxed eyes staring at computer screens all day.
remind me that people had the same comment about the ipods back then….. too expensive…. well they sell like hot chiken now
and crush the competition…. do you remember creative….
Selective reading, Ricky? Andrew had a lot of good points, price was only one of them.
No way my wife is giving up her Kindle for an LCD backlit tablet.
Not at all… I just don’t think apple will release a product that you won’t be able to read in the sun…. this is so obvious… if they do it then they miss the boat ……
Um, of course Apple would release a product you can’t read in the sun. In fact the one thing I can promise about the Apple tablet is that it will be difficult to use in direct sunlight. You know, like the iPhone and every other backlit device.
The most popular iPods were the cheapest ones, the Nano and the Mini. Just keep that in mind.
How much cost a nano? … back then … discman were cheaper… Apple makes you feel that $150 is a bargain….
I’d be kinda surprised if Apple didn’t cut out the middle men and deal direct with publishers. B&N doesn’t bring much to the table(t) on a technical level and don’t their current deals with publishers only cover sales directly on the Nook anyway? Apple’s been working on this project for years I don’t see them taking a shortcut like this for their content.
Agreed. More markup going to the wholesaler directly. The only B&N really brings to the party is less mark up and a second bland brand known for playing follow the leader. Apple chose AT&T at the time because everyone else told them to take a hike. They needed AT&T they don’t need B&N.
Steve Jobs will just buy B&N, turn around to face us, raise his hands and ask “What middleman?”
By the way, cataloguing and curating all those millions of books and publications is not a valueless task.
After reading all of this, I do expect the product on Wednesday to be nothing more and nothing less than a full color e-reader that is meant to be a direct challenge to the Kindle. That is what this tablet is. It’s a reader. It will not replace your laptop or cell phone. If you ever wanted a Kindle then you will want this product even more.
I think the underlying technology will either be supplied by Samsung or Qualcomm (my guess is Qualcomm). They demonstrated something that I think is about as close to what we can expect on Wed. in the video below. I wouldn’t be surprised if the device used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor too.
http://www.mirasoldisplays.com/ces/
Unless it’s a full color e-Ink reader, no I don’t want this product. And that won’t happen, though I am happy to eat my words and be the first in line with my bill in hand to buy it.
No way. “Just” an e-reader? People would laugh in Apple’s face. Ya know, maybe they could make a really nice e-reader, but if that’s ALL this thing is, it’s going to be a serious failure.
I would think apple would try to go directly to the publisher, but that would be a massive undertaking. Much easier and more profitable to just partner with someone.
One thing I haven’t heard a lot of talk about is text books for students. Why not pay 30% of the price for a college text book and view it on your tablet without having to lug a 5 pound book (or multiple books) for each class.
Give it a usable virtual keyboard (or add on keyboard) and you can take notes in a “stickie” type pad affixed to the pages in the book during class.
The have it automatically download your Times or WJS or local paper, be able to “clip” an article or ad and mail it to yourself or even print to a wireless printer.
Add the current capabilities of the iPhone (e-mail, browsing, music, video, apps), and they may have a winner on hand.
Cant wait for the Limewire or Napster for books to open I got a lot of reading to catch up on.
Your last point about letting Amazon in because all Apple wants to do is sell tablets is off by a long shot. They love the reoccurring revenue from, songs, tv shows, audiobooks and apps. I would say that locking up books next is in the plan along side with selling just the tablets.
> full color electronic reader which will put Amazon’s Kindle to shame.
Umm. No. The e-ink display on the kindle is amazing. It’s like reading an actual piece of paper with text on it, no shit.
I’ll take that any day of the week over and LCD / OLED screen. Not to mention the incredible battery life. My kindle lasts a good 30 hours of reading before it needs to be charged. Good luck with that on your tablet!
“That is what this tablet is. It’s a reader. It will not replace your laptop or cell phone. If you ever wanted a Kindle then you will want this product even more.”
And that sums up perfectly the unimaginative nature of the little people in tech.
Do you seriously believe that Jobs would drop serious coin to compete against a 200 buck monochrome book-seller? really? if so, what planet are you on, and have you ever heard of this earth company called Apple?
whatever the table turns out to be, it’ll be way more than you could ever imagine. If you could imagine it, you’d be an entrepreneur. Love them or hate them, entrepreneurs are people who can think beyond your tiny little “meh its a kindle” box and come up with a game-changer
(And yes, i have a kindle, and no I won’t be buying a table.)
How come all of a sudden everyone’s downgrading the job’s tablet to an enhanced bookreader? For me, the big promise here was a tablet that will be the ultimate web surfing machine, and not a clor book reader.
Are we in for a big surprise? Will Apple disappoint us, for the first time ever?
> full color electronic reader which will put Amazon’s Kindle to shame.
Obviously, you don’t know what you’re writing about.
I would expect more responsibility from the authors of this seemingly solid resource.
The whole point of eInk technology is NOT to be beautiful or colorful – it is to be easy on eyes. And nothing compares to eInk in this area.
The very comparison to Kindle here is just plain silly.
Hi,
Im wondering if this French website : http://www.lekiosque.fr that provides more than 400 newspapers ands magazines, on Internet and via an IPhone application will be compatible with this new IPhone tablet ?
Why Apple would negociate directly with editors, if such platforms (Barnes & Noble, LeKiosque.Fr, Zinio, …) are able to provide an exhaustivity of the content ?
What I see from Apple, from now, is to positionn itself on the editors negociation by developing dedicated app for them.
It’s gonna be pretty exciting for all the actors on this market.
Antoine
Digital Reader
Jeff Bezos has said that while he wants the Kindle to succeed, he also wants to be the distributor of ebooks to any platform. Why would Apple go with a company playing catch-up in the ebook space when they could go with the leader?
Kindle is DEAD
Apart from the post, dozens of theories are sprouting from the tablet.. Starting from real-looking tablet pics, to some nauseating hoax that e-books, news will start to bring a toll-fee for readers.. Gee, let’s see how the 27th of Jan. Plays out. Details:Rumor Mills of Apple Tablet Compiled
I am embarrassed by TechCrunch’s poor poor poor coverage of the apple product as a Kindle killer. If what we know (or what TechCrunch is telling us) about the Tablet is true – then the Tablet and the Kindle are completely different products. Kindle is light, easy to read from and low on battery usage. Tablet will probably be none of those things. Try to get your coverage into perspective, TechCrunch.
Even if this doesn’t debut at launch, it makes so much sense that it won’t take long until a bookstore features!
erm, what about the free Amazon Kindle app? Isn’t that providing Amazon book offerings just the same?
While I see the benefits for magazines and even newspapers, I don’t see the benefits to using such a large device with the readability of a LCD panel to read a book. While there may be a small percentage of people who use this to read an ebook, they will soon see that it’s not the preferred way for hours of reading which is why e-ink is the preferred technology of readers(so far). I know everything Apple touches is gold and will kill everything else it competes with but this limitation is built into the tech, people don’t read books on LCD screens this device is an LCD screen. QED
I’ve still never seen a Kindle in the wild… of course, I do live in TN and few people can read.
I’ve got the Kindle & B&N eReader apps on my iPhone. Both work well… my wife also has a dozen or more of those other “eReader” type apps. *shrug* If the iTablet can indeed run the iPhone apps as rumored then what’s the big deal?
And just to correct the article. The Kindle iPhone app does not allow you to buy books on the iPhone. That has to be done through Safari. The Kindle app only allows you to read / sync books that exist in your Amazon account.
I highly doubt we will see a “default bookstore” that doesn’t come from Apple.
One thing that does interest me with regard to an Apple tablet and any book reader functionalilty it may come with is how easy will it be on the eye? I can read for hours using my Kindle without any discomfort, would it be reasonable to expect the same from Apple’s new baby?
It will be a great ebook reader! Seems like Amazon is in trouble.
@Malcolm Lloyd ‘I know everything Apple touches is gold’
Remember the Cube?!
No one is perfect!