Chicago Sun-Times posted an article in which Andy Ihnatko talks about a startup company called LongBox which plans to offer an iTunes or Amazon Kindle style store for purchasing and viewing the latest editions of comics on the go. The product will be launched in November, and is rumored to have inked a secret key partnership that centers around Apple’s tablet.

“There are signs that (Apple) is getting into the digital comic book market,” he said. “Which is tantamount to saying ‘Apple is helping to create a digital comic book market.’”

“Ihnatko’s speculation is based on the fact that the LongBox CEO told him that the company’s unannounced partnership is with a manufacturer who has received high-profile coverage of upcoming hardware on a number of technology Web sites. Rantz Hoseley said that the company in question is the only one that would give LongBox “a multinational launch with literally millions of installed users,” which Inhatko assumed will be the iTunes Store.”

Even though they are still rumors, it seems more and more clear that the forthcoming Apple tablet device will serve as an e-reader. The New York Times seems to be involved in Apple’s plans to bring some kind of an e-reader on the market. Some publishers, like Time Inc, are already planning to create a digital store for magazines and other publications to sell their content. The publishers hope to make their content compatible with the tablet computer. Talks between them and the Cupertino California company have had disagreements over the business model to adopt.

“Apple’s new iTunes LP format has already been used to distribute one digital comic: “Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem.” The $1.99 album features three comics, an exclusive song, a 45-minute “making of” video, storyboards, alternate covers, concept art, desktop wallpapers and more.”

click on the picture for a bigger format

In other news, some people are speculating about the Apple tablet’s name. Apparently the name “iTablet” will not be the real name of the device. A table shows that all the big product releases with a name starting with an ‘i’ have a single syllable. That means that Apple’s tablet is either going to break that rule or have a completely other name. “iTablet” has two syllables. Snippets.com thinks the name could be “iPad” or “iTab”, but peoples comments suggest the name could also be “iMac Tablet” or “MacBook Touch”.

What do you think?

(Thanks to Jerry for the tip)

Steve Jobs started building a tablet device years ago, but without any goal. The question “why would people need such a device?” was never answered…until today. Apple is busy filling iTunes with content of several sorts of printed media. They want to make a device that is not only another e-book reader, but it is their purpose to redefine the print media market.

Yesterday’s rumor said the tablet will run a version of iPhone OS, but the tablet Apple has been busy with for several years, ran on a adapted version of Mac OS X. After years of testing, Apple is finally ready to release the tablet computer. The latest rumors suggest that the device will be introduced in January next year.

Apple reportedly met with magazine executives to pitch the future of that industry. Apple showed mockups of interactive content, to try and make a deal with the magazine executives. They really want to cause a digital evolution of print media and the tablet computer will be a key element of this revolution.

“Some I’ve talked to believe the initial content will be mere translations of text to tablet form. But while the idea of print on the Tablet is enticing, it’s nothing the Kindle or any E-Ink device couldn’t do. The eventual goal is to have publishers create hybridized content that draws from audio, video, interactive graphics in books, magazines and newspapers, where paper layouts would be static. And with release dates for Microsoft’s Courier set to be quite far away and Kindle stuck with relatively static e-ink, it appears that Apple is moving towards a pole position in distribution of this next-generation print content. First, it’ll get its feet wet with more basic repurposing of the stuff found on dead trees today.”

DRM-secured college books, that are only readable for a limited period of time, musty become a huge success on the Apple tablet. The prices can also be lower than normal printed books. And students only have to carry one device, instead of all the heavy books that take up a lot of space. The interactive content will also enhance the experience of reading books.

Steve Jobs says that people are not reading books anymore. It’s time to change that, and the tablet computer can do so. You’ll be able to see videos and pictures and interact with them. It’s clear the main goal of the tablet device is, to change the way we look at reading. Change the way we read. Create a revolution and re-invent the “wheel”. No more old fashion paper, the electronic reader is the future and Apple is the kind of company to do just that, WITH success.

Source: Gizmodo

The device can be carried as a booklet. When it is opened, you face two 7-inch touchscreens. You control the device with touch but also a pen (that might sound bad, but judging the video it works very smooth). It is a very different design than Microsoft’s previous Tablet PC’s that worked on XP and Vista.

 “Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft’s brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who’s spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.”

Click on the images below for a larger version:
 

Further information revels the device will include Wi-Fi capabilities, an iPhone-like home button, a camera, and perhaps an inductive charging pad like the Touchstone available for the Palm Pre.

Can this beat Apple? I must say it looks very very good. If the price is affordable and if the device will be available soon, would you pick this one up instead of the (still rumored) Apple tablet computer? Let me know what you think.

Source: Gizmodo (for more pictures and a video)