Will the Apple Tablet be just an eBook reader?
7:26 am, December 30th, 2009, John Brownlee
This is likely just a traffic grab, but according to the Quick PWN blog reporting “inside sources”, Apple’s forthcoming tablet will indeed be called the iSlate, but it won’t be a tablet computer: it’ll be an eBook reader, and positioned to go head-to-head with the likes of the Kindle and Nook.
That’s worthy of at least a moment’s consideration. Quick PWN contributer Hans writes:
Our sources have told us that the rumor about Apple launching a product with the iSlate name is true, but the product won’t be an Apple tablet, it will be an eBook reader. The iSlate will be a competitor to the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and other e-readers that are out there. Our sources have also told us that the iSlate eBook reader will run on Apple’s upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 software and will include a separate App Store for eBooks. Apple will be announcing the iSlate eBook reader at WWDC 2010, which our sources says is being held on June 7.
There’s the odor of piscine about all of this. For one thing, the WWDC 2010 date doesn’t jibe with a host of rumors and industry supply reports that suggest that Apple’s tablet will be revealed in January, not in June. That June 7th date also appears to be wrong, since the Moscone Center has already been booked for a suspiciously Apple-like “corporate event” beginning on June 28th. Moreover, that’s almost certainly the date that Apple will announce the next iPhone iteration: they aren’t likely to shift the focus of the event away from the iPhone to an entirely new product.
More to the point, though, why would the Apple Tablet only be an e-reader? All evidence suggests that reading digital content is going to be a big focus of the Tablet, so I expect to see serious e-reader integration in the finished Tablet. But why do just e-books when you can also do apps, music, video and other functions? The iPhone OS is already built for all of this functionality: Apple’s not going to blow up the iPhone just for e-books.
I suspect that Apple will position the iSlate, if that is indeed what it will be called, as a serious reading platform for interactive books, magazines and blogs, but it’s not just going to do what the Kindle does. It’s going to do far, far more. The Kindle’s a niche device, and Apple’s not going to make one of those.
Posted by John Brownlee in Apple Tablet, News | Comment on this article
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Are you crazy? It will be the next big thing. It will change everything for everyone. The iPhone just got us interested. This thing will eventually replace the laptop, and truly change the world… yet again! It will be huge.
Paul Abbott, on December 30th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Then they would have called it the iBook.
Martin, on December 30th, 2009 at 7:55 am
i’m saying no.
I think the whole ebook reader thing is because they know they need some new killer content stuff or folks will be like “it’s a big ipod touch, big deal”
so add a built in ebook reader, perhaps 720 video in the ipod, etc and now you get some ‘wow, i gotta have one’
Charli, on December 30th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Why include a picture of the device… clearly running a full Mac OS… without any explaination of the photo?
Is that a phony photoshopped picture?
If so… please say so… or (better yet) delete it.
Donna, on December 30th, 2009 at 11:12 am
@Donna, that is an old rendering that’s been floating around the interwebs for a long, long time.
I agree with everyone else. It would be silly for Apple to release an iPod for books, even the original iPod was quickly realized to have more uses than JUST music after the 2nd or 3rd revolution. Photos, videos, audiobooks…even games! It would be a step backward for Apple if they released a device that did just ONE thing. Not gonna happen. I truly believe it will be another Apple game changer. I can only hope it’s real!
Mike, on December 30th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
eReader screens use electronic paper and ink, which is easier on the eye when looked at for long periods of time.
I hope if there is a tablet from Apple it is more computer than eReader. Maybe its all hype and the event forecast in January is a Mac Pro update..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
Poppa, on December 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Apple have never been a trend follower but a trend setter. A mighty whiff of merde de vache about this one.
Monkey Boy, on December 30th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Apple hasn’t been this secretive for 3yrs. to come out with a Kindle clone. I don’t know who your Apple insider is but he is definitely out ot the loop on this one. islate.org
Nick Schooler, on December 30th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
steve once said that the kindle would fail, because people don’t read.
Edgar, on December 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Sure it will be able to run ebooks, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The iSlate is a platform capable of much more. I suspect it will be running a version of Snow Leopard with an iApp compatibility layer so it can run both MacOS and iPhone applications. The form factor allows it to compete against books/magazines/newspapers — the only paper-based systems that have not yet been replaced by computer-based technology. As such, it will be a media tablet which fuses ideas from books/magazines/newspapers/TV/movies. It will provide the mainstream news/infotainment/entertainment industries (NYT/WSJ/SI/RD/etc) with a platform and instant user base for subscription and a store where Apple can sell.
John, on December 30th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
“There’s the odor of piscine about all of this.”
Piscine is an adjective, try: “There’s a piscine odor about all of this.”
Gomi, on December 31st, 2009 at 2:03 am
Again, Apple iTablet, iSlate, whatever…will fail. Just because Apple hit it big with the iPod and iPhone, everyone just assumes that whatever they
release will be the “next big thing.” I think they’ve hit the wall and this new Kindle knock-off, web surfing, email reading tablet will be predictable and very boring. The thing is, how many devices that do the same things can Apple cram down our throats — before finally hitting a wall. This will be it.
RD
Roger Doger, on January 2nd, 2010 at 12:17 am