Another researcher is stepping forward with a prediction that Apple will introduce a tablet computer in 2010. But will it really have a huge impact on the eReader world?
In an interview with The New York Times' Steve Lohr, IDC’s chief analyst Frank Gens predicted the computing giant would be coming out with a new tablet computing device in the coming year:
The long-rumored Apple touchscreen tablet computer, or iPad, will arrive in 2010, IDC predicts. It will be more of an oversized iPod Touch, with an 8-inch or 10-inch screen, than a downsized Macintosh. With its larger screen, IDC says, the Apple tablet will be ideal for watching movies, surfing the Web, playing online games, and reading books, magazines and newspapers. It will be general-purpose, unlike Amazon.com’s single-purpose Kindle reader. The Apple offering, Mr. Gens says, “could deliver a real kick in Kindle’s butt.”
But will it? There's more to the Kindle -- or the Sony Reader or the B&N Nook, for that matter -- than just the device: there's the connection with the online store. The iTunes store has proven itself to be a powerful player in the media industry, but it's one where Apple maintains a ton of control. Only Amazon approaches that kind of control in eBooks. but it's a whole lot easier to get a title listed with Amazon's Kindle store than it is to get an app or podcast, for that matter, in the iTunes store. With three entrenches players already in place, Apple will need to swallow a little institutional pride and try to work with publishers -- something they've been loathe to do with the iTunes store -- to go against some entrenched forces.
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