Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuna
From Apple's history and current product line up, I doubt it's going to be an ebook. Apple like premium devices that can be sold as objects of desire. There's a nice space between the Mac Air and the iTouch/iPhone which could be filled with a media tablet with kindle-like delivery not only of books, but also of music, games and film. The technical problems of extremely long battery life could be avoided (so long as it can play through a film, or last for a long flight) and Apple could do what it does best - concentrate on quality of materials and sophisticated user experience. The device would cost at least $700 and that puts it outside of ebook territory and into the general computing arena where it has to have some other functionality to justify the cost.
By comparison, the ideal ebook is not that sexy - it should be small, light and not get in the way of reading a book. It should also be as cheap as possible. Amazon are getting there with the Kindle - imagine something with an 8", 200 dpi display that it is pretty much the entire upper surface of the device (maybe with a slide out keyboard) and sells for less than $100. Now, Apple could leapfrog where Amazon are going, but I suspect they'd rather define a new niche that can demand a premium than fight a well established player.
Besides all that, ebooks all come down to the screen. From what rumours we've heard, Apple aren't going for a technology that is suitable for genuinely comfortable reading.
That's just my take on it, but there you go.
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It doesn't have to be a dedicated ereader to fill that niche for casual readers and blow open the ebook market; more than half of people reading ebooks now are doing so on LCDs (PCs, laptops and phones), and with a little focus on improving that experience, the comfort gap with eInk can be closed considerably with existing technology. My matte LCD with convenient brightness controls is pretty comfortable as is.
The odds of a physical keyboard are slim to none--that's a peripheral, unnecessary for the majority of mobile tasks, particularly with good handwriting recognition.