Robert's Technology Journal

You’ve no doubt heard the rumors that Apple is to announce a new tablet product at the end of this month. Even the Wall Street Journal has an article about it’s pending release. I don’t know if I believe the speculation, but some pretty reliable sources have said this is the new product that Apple has up its sleeve. If the rumors are true then Apple isn’t just launching a larger version of the iPod Touch, but is intending on taking on Amazon for the eBook reader market. This scenario seems likely because Apple has a large market share in both the music and mobile app market, and a move to offer eBooks only makes sense . The device is rumored to have a 10 inch touch screen which is a little smaller than a magazine. At this size all forms of print media could be easily converted for electronic use. This begs the question as to what file format will apple choice for its device?

Currently the two major eBook vendors, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, have products that use differing file formats. This has causes confusion among consumers who have purchased eBooks from other vendors to find out they don’t work on their chosen device. With Apple entering the eBook market one has to wonder which file format their tablet will support. Will Apple take the approach to play nice with all file formats, or will they select one over the other. Amazon uses a proprietary kindle file format, while B&N’s Nook uses a more open standard. Knowing this Apple could adopt the open standard as to avoid any royalties to Amazon. Since Apple’s business plan include profiting off of the supply of content for their devices, it would only make since to choose a standard they could easily offer through an eBook store. Another option that Apple has is to create a new file format. I suspect they are going to do this, because I believe they will try and present this device as a multimedia reader rather than a straight eBook reader. I could see them offering magazine and newspaper subscriptions that will have the latest up-to-date news as well as video and interactive content. You can imagine how impressive it would be to offer a magazine like Sports Illustrated that includes live scores and stats of a team or player in its feature article.

Of coarse all of this is speculation, but one does have to wonder what new thing Apple has in store for us in the near future. Whether the item is a new tablet or not I think Apple has waited until the time is right to deliver their product. If it is a tablet I suspect that have selected a eBook file format which they feel will become the new eBook file standard. Only time will tell as to what they are up to and if they’ve made the correct file format selection.