Apple to make ebook readers?

luag · 02-26-2006, 01:03 PM

Hi, this is my first post here, but i've been visiting since i first heard about sony reader.

I just read a Businessweek article about digital books future, here:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...f+the+magazine

It was a nice read, but what caught my interest most is this:
" There's even speculation that Apple could come out with its own device, an iPod designed for books. The secretive company hasn't said anything publicly and declined to comment for this article."

They might call it iBooks lol

Another thing i noticed is that PlasticLogic's reader is still a long way to go. "It's partnering with Japan's NTT DoCoMo (DCM ) and plans to have a product on the market by early 2008."

Bob Russell · 02-26-2006, 01:37 PM

Hi Luag! Glad to have you not just as a reader but a participant. Very nice first post.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple does come out with it's own ebook reader, and it certainly has the infrastructure to handle the store side of things for the content. It's probably inevitable, and just a matter of how and when they jump in. I think they may start out by including ebooks as part of the feature set of future iPods. The screens will be getting better and better as they add multimedia functionality.

We've been hearing about ebooks in the mainstream being just around the corner for a while, but obviously the technology is taking a while to mature. It's coming, but just not as quickly as we would like. Apple could easily become a big part of bringing it faster (with iBooks as you say!), as maybe Sony will be also. But when nice e-ink devices in color become common and inexpensive we'll really see a big jump into the mainstream.

Every bit of new product news and marketing buzz and trade talk is another step closer to getting mainstream public to think about ebooks in a new way. Hopefully, there won't be a popular "bad" product that tarnishes the ebook image too much. That sort of thing might actually slow down adoption. But one way or another, it's coming!

ultim8fury · 02-27-2006, 07:02 AM

If Apple jumped in the arena, I'd be all over that. Buying books from the i-library and knowing that it'll "just work" on my mac would make me very happy. Not sure I'd want it to be of the iPod form factor though. I really want a book replacment. Something akin to the Sony reader but with better styling.

luag · 02-27-2006, 08:01 AM

Thanks for the welcome, Bob

Talking about display (a little bit off topic), I found an interesting short article.
Photo on the article is supposedly a leaked photo for a touch screen iPod video (quite big!...and awesome!) http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-...ure-156619.php

From that, i imagine that iBooks will feature a touch screen just like iLiad.
Another factor i like is that Apple (so far) is not a DRM freak like Sony.
iBooks might as well be the ultimate reader without the words "proprietary" attached to it (affordable reader which can read HTML, txt, pdf and other common types of text files natively)

I guess i'll wait a little bit before i buy Sony Reader :P
(and maybe Sony Reader will get hacked pretty soon after its release, allowing people to read html, txt files)

volwrath · 02-27-2006, 12:08 PM

If Apple came out with an "iBook", i am sure they would have a DRM scheme. It would probably view html, txt, pdf, pdb etc as well, but much like iTunes it would have some form of DRM. One could only hope that they adopted one of the DRMs currently out there such as eReaders or lit. (hopefully, but doubtfully lit

02-26-2006, 01:03 PM	#1
luag Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 30 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia Device: Onyx Boox 60	Apple to make ebook readers? Hi, this is my first post here, but i've been visiting since i first heard about sony reader. I just read a Businessweek article about digital books future, here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...f+the+magazine It was a nice read, but what caught my interest most is this: " There's even speculation that Apple could come out with its own device, an iPod designed for books. The secretive company hasn't said anything publicly and declined to comment for this article." They might call it iBooks lol Another thing i noticed is that PlasticLogic's reader is still a long way to go. "It's partnering with Japan's NTT DoCoMo (DCM ) and plans to have a product on the market by early 2008."

02-27-2006, 08:01 AM	#4
luag Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 30 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia Device: Onyx Boox 60	Thanks for the welcome, Bob Talking about display (a little bit off topic), I found an interesting short article. Photo on the article is supposedly a leaked photo for a touch screen iPod video (quite big!...and awesome!) http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-...ure-156619.php From that, i imagine that iBooks will feature a touch screen just like iLiad. Another factor i like is that Apple (so far) is not a DRM freak like Sony. iBooks might as well be the ultimate reader without the words "proprietary" attached to it (affordable reader which can read HTML, txt, pdf and other common types of text files natively) I guess i'll wait a little bit before i buy Sony Reader :P (and maybe Sony Reader will get hacked pretty soon after its release, allowing people to read html, txt files) Last edited by luag; 02-27-2006 at 08:22 AM.

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02-26-2006, 01:37 PM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Hi Luag! Glad to have you not just as a reader but a participant. Very nice first post. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple does come out with it's own ebook reader, and it certainly has the infrastructure to handle the store side of things for the content. It's probably inevitable, and just a matter of how and when they jump in. I think they may start out by including ebooks as part of the feature set of future iPods. The screens will be getting better and better as they add multimedia functionality. We've been hearing about ebooks in the mainstream being just around the corner for a while, but obviously the technology is taking a while to mature. It's coming, but just not as quickly as we would like. Apple could easily become a big part of bringing it faster (with iBooks as you say!), as maybe Sony will be also. But when nice e-ink devices in color become common and inexpensive we'll really see a big jump into the mainstream. Every bit of new product news and marketing buzz and trade talk is another step closer to getting mainstream public to think about ebooks in a new way. Hopefully, there won't be a popular "bad" product that tarnishes the ebook image too much. That sort of thing might actually slow down adoption. But one way or another, it's coming!

02-27-2006, 07:02 AM	#3
ultim8fury Addict Posts: 219 Karma: 368 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK Device: PRS500, Looking at 700	If Apple jumped in the arena, I'd be all over that. Buying books from the i-library and knowing that it'll "just work" on my mac would make me very happy. Not sure I'd want it to be of the iPod form factor though. I really want a book replacment. Something akin to the Sony reader but with better styling.

02-27-2006, 12:08 PM	#5
volwrath Guru Posts: 713 Karma: 1001739 Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Nashville, TN Device: SGS3/PW2/Nexus72	If Apple came out with an "iBook", i am sure they would have a DRM scheme. It would probably view html, txt, pdf, pdb etc as well, but much like iTunes it would have some form of DRM. One could only hope that they adopted one of the DRMs currently out there such as eReaders or lit. (hopefully, but doubtfully lit

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