Apple Tablet: taking on the Kindle?

Posted on | August 12, 2009 | 3 Comments

Image courtesy of Atlantic Magazine

Derek Thomson, in the Atlantic Magazine – Apple Tablet: Super E-Reader or Super Mini-Computer? – offers some interesting speculation around the much-rumoured Apple Tablet.

Thomson thinks that the Tablet’s expected iPod-Touch-like form, with a 10-inch screen, might put Apple in a position to attack two quite different markets: the e-Reader market and the burgeoning netbook market.

Of the two, I find the former the more interesting, since it would suggest that Apple might begin to offer e-books through iTunes. It also raises the stakes on all those e-reader apps finding their way onto the iPhone/iPod Touch at the moment (of which the nicest by a long way is Eucalyptus). Thomson quotes an analyst (i.e. someone indulging in a bit of unfounded guesswork) who predicts that Apple might pull the cost of the device down to around the $600 mark or less. That would be nice.

I can’t help thinking, though, that for a successful e-book reader, the battery will have to be a whole lot better than Apple laptop batteries are currently! We’ll see.

Technorati Tags: atlantic magazine, apple tablet, derek thomson, e-book reader

Category: amazon, apple, books, business

Comments

3 Responses to “Apple Tablet: taking on the Kindle?”

Apple Tablet: taking on the Kindle?
August 12th, 2009 @ 4:39 pm

[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptImage courtesy of Atlantic Magazine Derek Thomson, in the Atlantic Magazine – Apple Tablet: Super E-Reader or Super Mini-Computer? – offers some interesting speculation around the much-rumoured Apple Tablet . Thomson thinks that the Tablet’s expected iPod-Touch-like form, with a 10-inch screen, might put Apple in a position to attack two quite different markets: the e-Reader market and the burgeoning netbook market. Of the two, I find the former the more interesting, since it [...]
iPad Dude
August 12th, 2009 @ 5:46 pm

The iPad won’t be your momma’s old clunky touch based tablet PC. It won’t have the power of a notebook, but it does not need to. Most of the population will use it for web surfing, emailing, watching movies (has a HD screen), watching music videos, playing games, using it as a phone through skype, video conferencing , and yes even for applications like google’s online wordprocessing. Not to mention they are ready to take advantage of ebooks, kindle formatted books, and e-textbooks being pushed as the next step in education, online news papers, etc. Apple’s back-end application store is ready to go and as long as the Apple iPad has a sleek design, operates well, and is fun to use it’s going to be a winner.
Really, would you rather look at a 10″ HD screen or your tiny iPhone when your doing these things at home, work, on an airplane, or the coffee shop?
When you see all the features it has and if you like tech toys like the iPhone you will buy an iPad. If you say what is next on the market to capture the heart and minds of all those who buy devices like netbooks, iPhones, iPods, etc.and are looking for the next toy….IT IS THE “Apple iPad”.
iPadDude@appleipad.net
rose
August 13th, 2009 @ 9:40 pm

very interesting…i wonder what apple will name this new legendary device…there’s an interesting article about ereader names over here:

http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/books-are-so-yesterday/