A lot of the discussions on this forum (yes, I have lurked quite a bit) remind me a bit of my Father - he used to purchase products like non-sweetened Soy Milk at a local store. Well just because HE liked it did not mean the product would still be around for purchase in three years. Locally it is gone now, maybe he was the only one buying it?
I am old enough I was around for the original monochrome laptops - don't believe anyone is still selling those, except for ruggedized applications (war zones, warehouses). This pundit says the bullet is in the chamber for the black and white e-ink reader
http://gizmodo.com/5444232/notion-in...en-is-obsolete
So I do not expect the Apple Device to look much like an e-ink e-reader at all. For some on these boards you not only do not need to reserve a space in your budget for Apple's product you will even now be able to ignore what Apple Marketing has to say for the next two weeks.
Having read the "The Old Man" above I think he has the criteria just about correct for an 'e-reader' for me. Some consumers do not need the 8 hours (I could live with 5 if the device had a dock) and the definition of 'portable' lies with each of us (case in point are the endless arguments on the web regarding Playstation Portable versus Nintendo DS, DSi, LL).
Now Apple Marketing has (unless it was a mis-send) apparently sent an invitation to Kotaku
http://kotaku.com/5451042/apple-invi...t-think-islate
which is approximately a 90% Web Blog for Gamers.
Conclusions:
o if the invitation to Kotaku is accurate the Apple Device will play games
o in 2010 no one is going to produce a B&W gaming device
o so the Apple Device will have color and will have to refresh the screen fairly quickly to enable the playing of games
o For many on these boards that makes the yet-to-be-announced Apple Device not an e-reader.
For me I will go with "The Old Man's" general criteria:
"an e-reader should have certain criteria such as quick on and off, easy to read, portable, 8 hours + battery life" and yes, I want it to be light (a device with a laptop's weight should not apply).
So I am still holding out hope for an Apple Device which allows for extended reading of electronic books and will be large enough to retain some formatting capabilities. Hoping for ePub and maybe Wi-Fi for periodicals. So I suppose I have somewhat reserved a slot as all gadget purchases are on hold waiting for Apple's announcement.
Oh, and pretty sure this unannounced device will play games of some sort.
Basically the idea of a "Devices List" is going to get messy as convergence continues, unless it is a
Purists' List of Devices. Then even further down the road it may become an interesting historical list of devices, which by the way are no longer manufactured.