Written by Gregor Naudé Thursday, 28 January 2010 08:42
After much speculation, Apple has unveiled the iPad, which should prove a boon to the ailing print industry, with publishers predicting that the device will give a notable boost to the online reading model.
The half-inch-thick tablet, with a US starting price of $499, features a 9.7-inch touchscreen and enables users to read books and newspapers, play video games, watch movies, and more. During the unveiling of the new iPad and announcing the new iBooks app, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that as many as five of the six bigwig publishers – Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster – would be providing the requisite e-book content for the device.
Noting that iBook, the new digital bookstore application is aimed at re-inventing the way in which books are read, and that it would tempt readers to easily shop for as well as read books online, Jobs said that the app will allow that readers to "carry literally thousands of books around."
Talking about the iPad, Simon & Schuster’s spokesman Adam Rothberg said: "We love it, it's a state-of- the-art device that Apple always does well and now they have added books to their repertoire. From a publishing perspective it is a great thing."
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