“Apple is preparing to release a groundbreaking tablet computer in Australia and around the world early next year and has been in discussions with media companies about including their content on the device,” Asher Moses reports for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The tablet is tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone. It is small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket. It will have a touch screen and be targeted at users who mainly want to surf the web, read books and newspapers or watch movies,” Moses reports.
“Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet,” Moses reports. “None would speak about the device on the record.”
“It is understood that Apple has been in direct talks with Australian media companies to launch a new app for the tablet that would allow them to distribute their content in digital form and charge for it,” Moses reports. “Similar talks were under way with Amazon over the Kindle e-book reader but these broke down after the media executives baulked at giving Amazon 70 percent of the revenue.”
Moses reports, “By contrast, Apple’s model has been to give developers 70 percent of the revenue and to keep a 30 percent cut. It is expected a similar deal will be offered to media companies.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
Nothing like non disclosure is there?
This would be welcome in the print media as newspapers and the like have been losing readership of late to online sources.
“The tablet is tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone. It is small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket. It will have a touch screen and be targeted at users who mainly want to surf the web, read books and newspapers or watch movies,” Moses reports.”
Make it affordable enough for a family to be able to afford 2 or 3 and you will have a hit.
What would happen to news aggregations sites like Google, MDN, etc.?
They should decline in readership. They, media, have lost touch with facts and the ability to report them as it is or was. They report by crafting an image they wish to portray. Sad, but reality is so absent in the media today.
Look how they get the most simple and easy to search fact on Apple products. Yet, the information is sometime so off that one has to consider if they pulled a draft they had from 10 years ago. Then paste current product names where the old product name was. That is just Apple.
I think they have been watching too much Hollywood. They should be left to die! No love lost for those guys.
biggest issue:
do people want to read books on this thing. If the screen is VERY DIFFERENT from the iPod Touch, then you have a compelling product.
Also, Apple would be effectively launching the first color eInk screen?!?
My kids fingers are perfect for the iPod touch, but it is a little small for me to feel entirely comfortable in finger size and visibility.
Why not just scale the iPod touch and its UI up 20% for adult size…not too big and cumbersome, but not too small for mobile usability.
Sure, it won’t quite fit in your pocket, but it won’t be a flimsy prehistoric netbook to lug around, either. This is 2009, folks. A mobile unit with a mobile interface is greatly needed out there, and the netbooks just ain’t it.
The iPod Touch is Apple’s tablet, it just needs a version of it to be scaled up slightly without changing much of anything.
MDN quotes: “It is understood that Apple has been in direct talks with Australian media companies”.
Please tell me this does not translate into News Corp., aka Rupert Murdoch Media Demolition Inc. (Murdoch is an Aussie). Much as I like Australia, Murdoch is one export I wish they’d burned at the stake rather than let loose on an innocent unsuspecting world.
:-Q********
Apple + Murdoch is even less appetizing than Palm + Sprint. What is lately with ‘Beauty and the Beast’ themes?
Murdoch is an Aussie
By birth yes. By commitment, not so much.
I agree that the midwife through the wrong bit away with Murdoch, but he’s an American citizen now since he gave up his birthright so he could own an American TV network.
If it wasnt for Fox news, wed be drowning in liberal propaganda sewage that the rest of the ‘news’ media puke out 24/7.
“Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet,”
Could this be part of the reason behind building the server farm in North Carolina?
@MacGuy
Off Topic I know, but Fox is unlike any other major news organization in the US. FOX organizes, sponsors and promotes political events (Tea Party / 912); no other major player does this. These activities are what partisan rather than news reporting organizations do. Roger Ailes, head of FOX’s US operation, was a media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Any surprise really that he actively pushes a conservative political agenda? FOX is certainly free publisize its opinions, but they should not be couched as “news”.
@ Macguy
The only bigger myth than “security via obscurity” is the “liberal media.” It doesn’t exist. It’s NEVER existed. You’ve been fed the big lie and you believe it.
The “media” as it exists today is actually owned by five or six giant corporations who are anything but “liberal.” Sure, there are a few liberal commentators out there, but they’re vastly outnumbered by right and extreme right-wing voices.
I can understand why the right wants to feel like a victim, but it’s just not based in reality.
@ MacGuy
Off Topic, but FOX is unlike any other major news organization in the US. FOX organizes, sponsors and promotes political events (Tea Party / 912); no other major player does this. These activities are what partisan rather than news reporting organizations do. Roger Ailes, head of FOX’s US operation, was a media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Any surprise really that he actively pushes a conservative political agenda? FOX is certainly free publisize its opinions, but they should not be couched as “news”.
Fox news is an oxymoron — like jumbo shrimp, rap music, and military intelligence !
Seems only the 19% of the populace ( are those who will admit to being a Republican ) — are the only people who believe Fox {news} is really news !
Like your leaders, your numbers are dwindling
do you people still believe that apple would release this thing?
don’t take your dreams seriously
@macguy:
Please go spew your stinking swill somewhere else.
I love it when certain groups resort to ad hominem attacks on those who say things they disagree with, rather than a detailed rebuttal. Looking at you alansky!
@maccam,
You don’t know what you’re talking about. While I’m not a big fan of the commentary shows on Fox News (Beck/Hannity/Sustren), the news shows such–as the nightly Special Report–are the most informative and balanced among the major news networks (that doesn’t mean they’re perfect).
As far as the Tea Party events, prove it! Provide a link with real evidence.
BTW, covering the Tea Parties–which had a substantial political impact but were generally not covered by the MSM news organizations–does not mean that Fox News “organizes” or “sponsors” the tea parties.
As for Roger Ailes, are you really not aware that there is a long history of liberal MSM reporters and news executives serving as political advisors to Democratic politicians? Among the best known are Stephanopolous on ABC and Bill Moyers on PBS.
You really need to broaden your information sources–too much Olberman and Daily Kos will make you ill-informed.
Regards.
If they do get this deal, I hope it extends to the iPhone (touch). I don’t plan to get a tablet, but would like access to the content….
I guess baulk is kinda like caulk?
Looks like Apple is really focusing this as a media delivery device. I hope they make an SDK available for it like they did for the iPhone. I don’t really care for just an e-Reader, but if I can program the device….
“that would allow them to distribute their content in digital form and charge for it,”
I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m not likely to pay for content, (news, etc.), that I get for free now. Apple and anyone else should be wary of gathering up content from the internet and charging users to view or access it. Isn’t that America Online’s business model?
http://www.Guyswithiphones.com next guyswithislate I love it apple love ya for supporting gay lol just being annoying gov go regulate things that need extream regulation like affordable mixed housing if not it’s time for a new America u cant expect the majority of private companies to do anthing in the interest of the ppl ppl make your government accountable lol I thought this was a site on apple products not a site on politics!
Well you have to admire Apple for taking bold steps. I mean the rumours that Apple was going to release some sort of tablet device around the world is one thing, but to release it around the world and Australia, well that is pretty bold.