Hitch,
I am the community manager for the Small Publishers Association of North America's
online community.
In regard to your questions about publishing directly to the iBookstore, we have written an
http://www.spannet.org/page/apple-ibookstore-now-open"]article that deals with this issue.
It should be noted that one of the technical requirements for working direct with Apple IS an Intel based Mac. At this point, we have speculated that the Mac requirement is software based issue, and that this channel may eventually be opened up to Windows users.
Working direct with Apple cuts out the middleman, and Apple takes 30% of sales. However, Apple has regional payment thresholds that must be met before a check can be written. So, if you have strong local sales, but are not meeting the regional thresholds it might be a while before a check is cut if you go direct with Apple.
Here is the article:
http://www.spannet.org/page/apple-ibookstore-now-open
And here is an article we wrote about working the 3rd party Content Aggregators:
http://www.spannet.org/how_do_I_get_...iBookstore.htm
Hope this helps! And if you do have any more questions I would be happy to elaborate, as we are always working to stay on top of this and other issues that relate to independent publishers.
bradley flora
SPANnet.org