iSlate Day -2: the rumoring

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 05:06

Your IT - Mobility

As Wednesday's Apple event grows ever closer, new information and rumors continue to trickle out about the tablet computer everyone expects. The latest have to do with content, games, operating system, and Steve Jobs's opinion.

One of the most persistent reports swirling around the anticipated iSlate is that Apple has been negotiating with book and other publishers to provide the e-reader capabilities of the tablet with enticing content from the get-go.

Today comes further corroboration from Seth Weintraub at his 9 to 5 Mac blog , based on conversations he's had with two friends in the New York publishing biz.

According to Seth's friends, Apple has been working "very aggressively" on lining up content partners and hopes to have at least one to announce at the event. But we shouldn't expect a lot of content to be available until mid 2010 at least.

Supposedly, Apple is approaching publishers with an "agency" model for book distribution -- in which it acts as a go-between for publisher and consumer and takes a commission on every book sale -- rather than the wholesale model other e-book distributors use.

The agency model could enable Apple to take the same 30% cut it takes of iPhone App Store purchases while publishers still get more of the selling price than they usually get from the wholesale discount.

Seth's friends also said that while Apple didn't bring any prototypes along, company representatives said that the device wouldn't cost "anywhere near" US$1,000 and that its software would be the real game-changer.

For more on the tablet's software and Jobs's feelings, see Page 2.