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By Chris Meadows

AppleInsider says that Oppenheimer Analyst Yair Reiner is reiterating some of the rumors we’ve been hearing about the Apple Tablet—Apple approaching publishers, 10.1 inch LTPS LCD (like the iPhone’s) screen. But he refutes other rumors (such as the OLED model) and adds an interesting new twist in terms of the publisher offers.

"Contacts in the U.S. tell us Apple is approaching book publishers with a very attractive proposal for distributing their content," Reiner said. "Apple will split revenue 30/70 (Apple/publisher); give the same deal to all comers; and not request exclusivity. We believe the typical Kindle split is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Kindle is given ebook exclusivity."

The Kindle split right now for self-published works is 65/35 Amazon/publisher. (Professionally-published works, as pointed out in a comment below, are still sold on a price basis.) Does this mean Amazon is feeling the pinch and may start adjusting its self-pub revenue split toward 50/50, 30/70 for exclusivity?

Might Apple be trying to sweet-talk publishers into switching over to a new pricing model that would let them make the same amount of wholesale money but sell the e-book at 5/7 of its hardcover price? Interesting.

Reiner believes production of the Apple Tablet will start in February. Barring production difficulties, the product could then launch in March or April. He predicts the average selling price to be $1,000, and sales of 1 million to 1.5 million devices per quarter.

$1,000? That’s a bit pricey; it brings to mind some of the dedicated devices of the ‘90s when people thought they could charge in the high three-digits for an e-book reader.

I hope he’s wrong about that. I can’t imagine people being willing to shell out that much, even for an Apple device.

Eee, a Tablet!

But it looks like Apple is not the only game in town. Another rumor might just make e-book fans go, “Eee!” Asus Eee, to be precise. DigiTimes reports Asustek is going to launch an “Eee Pad” with a 4 to 7 inch screen—a sort of cross between a tablet PC and a netbook.

But that’s all they report. Most commentary, from sites such as EnGadget and MaximumPC, is considerably longer than the two-sentence source article. That is not a lot to go on—but it is still interesting that it is there.

Tablet PCs have more in common with dedicated e-book readers than just their form factor. Both devices were tried in the ‘90s, and both largely flopped.

But dedicated reading devices’ time has finally come. Can the same be said for tablet PCs?

 
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