Hasta La Gadget!

Put this down as something else rumored that’s come to fruition today. Apple’s just announced iBooks, an e-reader app and bookstore (called iBookstore) for the iPad, using the ePub format. We’re seeing prices around $12.99 to $14.99 so far… looks pretty slick! We’re sure Jeff Bezos and Co. are none too pleased to see this one, but we’ll have to see for ourselves what reading’s like on a non-E Ink screen. There’s a gallery after the break.

Be sure to hit up our hands-on right here!

Continue reading Apple reveals iBookstore and app for the iPad

Apple reveals iBookstore and app for the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a little price snippet on Apple’s e-book plans, care of an eleventh hour Wall Street Journal piece. According to the article, the gang in Cupertino is asking book publishers (HarperCollins was specifically cited) to set the price point for digital versions of hardcover bestsellers at either $12.99 or $14.00, “with fewer titles offered at $9.99.” The publisher apparently has the option to set its own price, but at any rate, Apple’s taking the usual 30% cut from each sale — a $14.99 novel would thus leave about $10.49 for the publisher. Nothing else to glean from this other than a rather strongly-phrased assertion that tomorrow’s tablet has a 10-inch touchscreen, but no indication on where that’s coming from. These prices would put Apple’s selection at a premium compared with Amazon and its Kindle store, but perhaps it’ll also be bypassing any rumored digital delay on new works — question is, if Apple really is entering the e-book business and bringing with it higher prices, will it let us import our digital books purchased from other stores? What say you, Mr. McGraw?

WSJ: Apple wants e-books to be $12.99 or $14.99 for hardcover best sellers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like everyone wants a slice of that steaming-hot e-reader action these days. Right in front of us here is the Tianji — or in our language, Phecda, a distant star — iBook EB-605, which is purported to be launched by Lenovo at some point this year (and we first heard about such plan back in December). Features include a 6-inch electronic ink display, Samsung ARM 400MHz processor, newspaper subscription, music player, picture browser and support for a variety of digital book formats including EPUB (hooray!) and MOBI. ZOL also spotted the SIM card-like icon at the top, which might suggest a thing or two about its wireless capabilities, and estimates a price tag of under ¥2,000 ($293). No word on international release yet, but hey, the more the merrier either way!

Update: eagle-eyed reader charlied spotted this e-reader in its no-frills form from Oaxis. The good news is that WiFi and SD card slot are featured as well, but no mention of a SIM card slot so ZOL‘s probably wrong about that icon. Shame.

Lenovo to launch Tianji iBook EB-605 e-reader? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still patiently waiting for Endless Ideas to launch a 3G-equipped e-reader to compete with the masses, but ’til then, we suppose we’ll have to be satisfied with the WiFi-toting BeBook Neo. Boasting a 532MHz Freescale CPU, Vizplex display (800 x 600 resolution), 512MB of internal storage, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB 2.0 connectivity and an SD expansion slot, the 6-inch, February-bound Neo brings to the table very little that we haven’t seen elsewhere — in fact, it’s a dead ringer for Onyx International’s Boox. Naturally, you’ll find support for a multitude of file formats (ePUB, PDF, HTML, JPG, PNG, etc.), and the internal battery is good for 7,000 page turns on a full charge. The company is also playing up the unit’s ability to access a wide variety of third-party ebook venues, which gives you the option of purchasing books from any given outlet rather than a predefined store. There’s also WACOM tech built in, which should delight those who love to annotate and add text mark-ups. We’re told that future software updates will add a multitude of new features, but it’s tough to say if that promise is enough to coax you into dropping $299 on a pre-order.

BeBook Neo e-reader launches with WiFi and WACOM capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This day simply wouldn’t be a day between January 18, 2010 and January 27, 2010 without a new gaggle of Apple Tablet rumors to sift through, and while we’re gritting our teeth as we skim every word, we’ve the latest and greatest most far-fetched rounded up here for your perusal.

The rumor: The Apple Tablet will “strike a familiar chord with owners of the original iPhone, with similarities in industrial design trickling all the way down to the handset’s button and connectivity components.”
Our take: Honestly, we can believe this one. Apple has had a great deal of success with the iPhone, and we’ve already seen the “tablet PC” as it’s known today take a nosedive. Apple Insider is saying that the device may look a lot like a “first-generation iPhone that’s met its match with a rolling pin,” and while we’ve obviously no inside way to confirm nor deny, we can get why Apple would stick close to a design that it knows will work. Oh, and be sure to peek two more clearly fake mockups after the break.

The rumor: New York Times Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. won’t be at Apple keynote next week.
Our take: So? Just because the head honcho from The Times is planning to be in Davos, Switzerland next week while Apple unveils its tablet doesn’t mean that Jobs can’t showcase the device’s ability to video chat across oceans in front of the masses… if Apple even has a deal with any publisher. If Apple really is reaching out to publishers for content deals, you can bet your bottom dollar the NYT is listening. And be honest — if you had the option of being in Davos or some convention center in San Francisco, which would you pick?

More after the break… if you dare.

Continue reading Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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