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‘Read Steve Jobs’: NYT on Apple e-book tablet rumors
March 3, 2008 | 9:42 am
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By David Rothman
As a disinformation guy Steve Jobs would fit right in with the CIA, KGB, the White House in one of its more imaginative WMD moments, or maybe the Iraqi spinner who assured us that the Saddam Hussein was routing the American Satans.
When Jobs says he won’t do something, that might be all the more reason to wonder if he will, as TeleBlog readers, especially Mike Cane, keep reminding us. Remember? Apple supposedly would never do tiny-screen video? And the latest line from Jobs is that no one reads, so forget about an Apple rival to the Kindle.
Oh, to get at the truth! This morning’s New York Times is adding credence to the TeleBlog community’s speculation that an e-book-fit Apple tablet is on the way, something that would nicely jibe with old rumors about the company being in touch with publishers.
Keep in mind that the Apple is now depicting the iTouch as a platform rather than just one gizmo. Could this point to—in the words of the Time—"a Safari Pad" with WiFi and a bigger screen than the iPod touch? Who says the tablet needs to be a dedicated e-book reader? It could simply work well with e-books.
The Intel factor
"Intel, to be sure, is encouraging the market for low-cost devices that fit somewhere in size between cellphones and notebook computers with its Diamondville and Silverthorne microprocessors that it branded Monday as the Atom," writes the Times’ John Markoff.
"So despite all the criticism Mr. Jobs has taken for impugning American literacy, maybe he actually believes he can do for reading what he for listening to music? (I mean, if all a Safari Pad does is Web browsing, that would be a bit of an anticlimax). And despite the mixed reports on the success of the Kindle to date–there are reports that it has sold out, but the word from the publishing world is murkier—Mr. Jobs has to have taken note that the Kindle’s real genius was in borrowing a page from the iPod-iTunes business model playbook."
Along the way, Markoff takes well-deserved dig at Amazon’s industrial design capabilities compared to Apple’s, and he envisions a tablet "something about the same size and less than the thickness of the Macbook Air." Come to think of it the Air itself could be an interesting e-book reader for those who want a 13-inch display. The light weight could only help. Hey, for that matter, I wonder if a Tablet PC-style convertible could be a possibility in the future.
Correction: That was John Markoff’s New York Times item, not Brad Stone’s—I’ve fixed the error.
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Comments:
There are two problems inherent to aPple’s ebook reader, and both are caused by the way aPple does business. The first problem is that the ebook reader will cost about $300 more than its competitors.
The other problem is co-branding. What ebook format would the device use? Sony is doubtful; it’s the weakest major format. Mobipocket is also unlikely; aPple would be at the whim of their direct competitor. MSReader is almost a possible, but unlikely. Unless aPple buys it from MS. I think Ereader is the most likely candidate.
Of course, apple could start their own format, but that might kill the device.
Well, Nate, I’m only dreaming, but I wouldn’t mind publishers laying down the law to Apple and saying, “If you want to stand out, then do .epub from the start.” Repeat: It’s a DREAM.
More realistically, your eReader possibility might be the next best thing, given that it doesn’t have a DRM-created device limit. Now here’s something really wild. What if Apple not only used eReader but bought up Fictionwise, so that it oculd release the tablet with lots and lots of books available? Before Steve P writes in, naw, that probably won’t happen, either.
But with so many long shots, maybe, just maybe, one will end up a short shot, eh?
Thanks,
David
I just checked the trademark as well as business registration. Apple doesn’t own Fictionwise yet.
I forgot about epub when I was writing my previous post. You’re right, it is a possibility. Even if Apple adds DRM.
the big difference with music is that there is no de facto standard for ebooks. as there was mp3 for music.
I’ve seen a lot of rumours about Apple buying Adobe.
With a tablet that can be used as an ebook reader they would have another reason.
They would have PDF plus this new Digital Editions thing.
Afterall… how comes nobody uses DE? No product.
Even though publishers are supposedly embracing the format.
Have they already signed a secret an exclusive deal with Apple and are they just waiting for the device to be announced? Is it why DE did not appear in Kindle, the updated SONY reader or anything else?
Heck, Tamas, .epub is Hachette’s sole distribution format—and other majors still plan to phase it in.
As for the consumer level, yes, .epub is now my preferred format and I notice that Yoda feels the same way. There are more .epub boosters around than you might realize. I hope the Open Source community will join the FBReader and OpenBerg and provide good software. That’ll help. We’re in chicken-and-egg territory: I hardly consider DE to be the ultimate reading experience. The right software would help.
Also please remember that big publishers are still fixated on DRM and .epub lacks an accompanying “protection” standard. That could change. Of course I hope that houses will think about alternatives such as social DRM or, better, none. Significantly, Random House released a preview of Beautiful Children without DRM. So maybe there’s some hope.
I doubt that publishers have signed a secret exclusive deal with Apple. If Robert Ludlum were still alive, however, this might make a good Ludlum conspiracy novel.
Thanks,
David
Apple should buy Adobe.
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/the-three-big-as-apple-amazon-adobe/
And it’ll probably be called the iPod Air:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/is-apples-tablet-the-ipod-air/
Don’t know what ebook format it could be. It’d be like Apple to make its own — with DRM.
Hmmm… what happened to Comment preview here?
Right. I’m gotten really pissed off with people ripping me off. Having to slap people down with multiple URLs invokes a spam filter, so I’ve consolidated everything down to one A-bomb post:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/for-the-record-apple-and-ebooks/
Well, I still say Steve Jobs was telling it as he saw it when he said Apple had no plans for an ebook device because ‘people don’t read anymore.’ Of course we all do read on the web, and that’s exactly what Jobs did not mean.
Look for an Apple version of Intel’s MID (Mobile Internet Device) tablet, with probably a 7-inch widescreen, multitouch, that will be more like a big-brother to the iPod Touch, and a very nice WiFi web browser, portable movie viewer (yeah, rent them movies from iTunes!).
Yes we will be able to read some ebooks on it, but it’s likely the thing will not be ‘open’ in the sense Mac-OSX is but ‘closed’ the way the iPhone-OSX is. That means Safari only, alas, until someone hacks a version of Firefox for it. I do hope and expect a Firefox extension to read epub files, and that OpenOffice.org v3 will read epub files too, maybe with an extension.
And it will be expensive, because though those 7-inch screens are starting to show up in volume, adding multitouch boosts costs quite a bit, and the thing MUST cost a good deal more than the iPod Touch to preserve sales of that gizmo.
I wonder if it will be flash-memory only, or include a hard drive? Also a downer, Apple will probably follow the iPod and iPhone here and dis-include a slot for SD or other expandable memory.
i am completely banking on the idea that apple is coming out with an ebook reader/small tablet. if they do, it’s the one device i’ve been lacking in my life: between trade-related documents, public domain books, and scads of miscellaneous stuff, a way to comfortably read electronic documents is the last puzzle piece for me. as for a format, i think PDF is a given — OSX has a built-in PDF reader (Preview). as for other formats and whether or not apple will choose this company or that company, let’s not forget that apple was able to bring ALL the competing movie companies to the table for the itunes video downloads. one distinct edge apple has over all others is that when apple comes to you, you listen. everybody wants to be on-board for the next thing apple produces, and if that means being in bed with your competitors, most companies don’t even blink twice.
How can we track Apple’s move in this area?
And if it can display movies, web casts etc…
My iPod touch’s screen is too small for my old eyes!