Publications for the Apple tablet

A few days ago, it was reported that Apple was sending specifications of its tablet to various news sources in an attempt to find out which sources would be interested in delivering their content to customers through the tablet.  One newspaper that Apple has approached was the New York Times.

It has also been suggested that Apple may include digital comic books on the tablet.  Executives at the comic giants such as Marvel and DC Comics say that they haven’t heard anything from Apple, though, which is not a good sign. 

It is also rumored that textbook publisher McGraw Hill will be moving its textbooks to the tablet’s digital format, which helps contribute to the rumor of Apple selling a version of the tablet specifically for educational use. 

Along with these publications, rumors have risen about Apple working with magazine and book publishers to bring their content to the upcoming tablet. 

Amazon’s Kindle, which would be Apple’s main competitor in the digital publication market, has nearly half a million book, and a variety of newspapers/magazines.

The Rumored Price

Early reports suggested that the price would range from $00-$1000, which means that price would be between the price of an iPhone and the price of a full-blown MacBook.  More recently, new sites have reported the tablet will cost somewhere between $700 and $800, which makes sense considering it’s a 10-inch touch-screen tablet. 

In comparison, Amazon’s Kindle DX has a 9.7 inch display and costs only $489.  The big difference her is that the Kindle can not run any of the thousands of applications that Apple sells through its App store.  The kindle also does not feature a touch-screen.

The Release Date

Over the past few months, numerous release dates have popped up across the internet.  Back in August, it was suggested that the tablet would be announced in September and released in November.  However, September has come and gone without an official announcement from Apple.  In fact, we’re only two days away from the start of November, and Apple has still said nothing about the tablet. 

More recent articles (from the end of September) suggest that the tablet will now be released sometime in early 2010 with an announcement from Apple most likely in the middle of January. 

Earlier this month, Apple executives gave statements saying that air freight costs will rise abnormally during the first quarter of 2010.  They said that it is not iPhone related and that the product will be ready for the holiday season.

Could this mean the tablet will be released around the holidays?  Or, are they referring to some other product they have up their sleeves.  We’ll find out soon enough.

Potential Designs

Early rumors suggested that the tablet would be a a touch-screen tablet that would run the regular Mac OS (which is depicted above).  However, recent rumors have suggested that the tablet will instead be a larger version of the iPhone/iPod touch (shown below).  This would mean that the tablet would be able to run any of the more than 100,000 apps offered in Apple’s app store, which would mean the iTablet would be yet another revenue source for Apple. 

The iTablet (as some refer to it) is rumored to be completely touch screen just like the iPod touch.  It’s screen will be around 10 inches diagonally.  Most news sources have some to the conclusion that it will feature no keyboard.

Another picture with the same tablet design  is below.

The Purpose of this Blog

The sole purpose of this blog is to gather all the information that has “surfaced” about the Apple tablet.  Instead of having to read articles and search the web, you can simply come to this blog and get all the information in one place.