As the days tick off before Apple’s “latest creation” announcement Jan. 27, its much-rumored tablet is taking shape in a steady stream of leaked interviews. The over-arching theme seems to be that Apple sees its tablet reshaping publishing the way the iPod was a game-changer for how we buy and listen to music. However, unlike previous media gadgets, Apple could be hoping to attract families – even entire classrooms – with its tablet.
The family was Apple’s focus when developing the tablet, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. “The company envisions that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in home,” the paper wrote, citing ‘people familiar with the situation.’
The tablet was designed to be “intuitive to share,” including a potential of face-recognition and a sticky note system, according to the report.
Although Apple has long wanted publishers aboard when the tablet launches, details of ‘eleventh-hour’ meetings were reported earlier this week. The WSJ names HarperCollins, Conde Naste and the New York Times among those who’ve heard Apple’s pitch. Indeed, NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger only supplied a cryptic “stay tuned” when asked for a response. Apple has discussed with the newspaper company how it could charge for access via the Cupertino, Calif. company’s iTunes. The paper recently announced it would begin charging for access in 2011, but provided few other details.
In yet more signs of how Apple sees a tablet breathing new commercial life into downtrodden publishers, in October, the company flew to the Frankfurt Book Fair, a trade publishing magnet and in November the company hired a former textbook publishing executive to lead its global education efforts.
But Apple does not see itself wholly remaking publishing, an unnamed CEO cautioned. Instead, CEO Steve Jobs is intent on creating “new forms of distribution,” the person added.
