Next up: Apple Tablet

Publishers prepare as Apple readies it e-reader for rich media books, magazines and newspapers.

Bill Esler, Editor in Chief -- Graphic Arts Online, January 26, 2010

Apple launches its much hyped iPad for e-reading, e-mailing, game playing, video watching, music and more. For a company used to keeping a lid on launches, the story of the Apple Slate, a new tablet computer that functions as an e-reader, seems to have gotten away from it. (Update: Apple launched the device and branded as the iPad.)But connecting the dots, from developments by book and magazine publishers of Slate-friendly formats, to widely circulated prototype images, patent filings and even a possible TV ad supports the notion of a launch announcement today.

Averaging the speculation (and there is even a site devoted to aggregating rumors), it seems likely the Apple tablet computer will be an iPod-like device with 10-inch touch screen that will lend itself to two-handed, 10-finger touch. It will be called Slate.

One example shows the screen presenting a full-sized keyboard image, presumably with software to play music.

But it is the Apple Slate's utility as a delivery vehicle for publications that is most significant for the printing industry. As with the iTunes store, it is expected there will be an online outlet for retailing books, magazines and newspapers. Following the Amazon Kindle model, publishers will place electronic versions of printed media in the store, which will handle the retail transactions and split the proceeds along ratios yet to be determined. iTunes account for 25% of all music sales. 

Terry McGraw, McGraw-Hill chairman, president & CEO  told CNBC yesterday his firm has been working with Apple "for quite some time," developing textbooks that can be presented on the Apple tablet computer, and noted that 95% of his firm's titles have been converted to e-book formats.

Time Inc. prepared a prototype tablet edition of Sports illustrated. News Corp., Time Inc., Meredith Corp., Conde Nast and Hearst announced a joint venture to develop a standard e-publication file format, and to create an online store for selling magazines, books and newspapers. GQ already sells digital issues at iTunes store at $2.99 a copy.

Also garnering interest is a platform known as a Vook, from an Emeryville, CA start-up,  which is designed to merge rich media--sound bits, music, photo albums, videos--into books, though it could be used for magazines and newspapers. Filipacci Publishing, Simon & Schuster, Woman'sDay Brand Group and Harper Studio are listed as publishing partners.

Where does this leave publication printing services? It pressures the printing industry to reconstitute its business model, expanding "premedia" services to include creation and support for rich media versions of print publications to serve up to Apple's Slate. As Apple has demonstrated in the music business, it has a knack for marketing digital versions of popular media--so lots of enhanced digital files will be needed to keep any possible iPublications store well stocked. And unlike the music business, dependent on the creative whims or recording artists,  periodical publications have perfected the "recurring revenue" format--with quality content delivered at  regular intervals: daily, weekly and monthly, an appealing business proposition.