[tomsem]

The phrasing on Nate's quote of Dave Zatz is curious:

"The cover has internal battery recharged via the tablet itself."

It says nothing about this being used for external light source, which would not be very interesting in the first place. So we can speculate freely:

One can find smartphone cases that include supplemental energy storage. If that is the application used here, then it implies this thing at least sometimes requires more energy than an e-ink display would, and that would support the idea that this thing may have a Liquavista display (which would require back lighting when external light is inadequate). This would not preclude use without the cover, when external light is adequate, but like the lighted covers of yore, this cover would supply the extra energy needed for the back light. And hopefully the assembly with cover is at least as light as a conventional tablet without a cover, but having much lower energy consumption for typical reading.

And yes, one might as well throw in BT and audio with that, and extra storage to handle audiobooks and multiple TTS languages. We're going to be paying for it!

My opening bid is $250 for the above wifi only model, add $80 for free 3G for life of device (not to be used for audiobook download).