Mythical Apple iTablet to be Ultimate Comic Book Reader?
Could Apple's still unannounced, non-existant (for consumers anyway) iTablet be the ultimate comic book reader? Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Apple aficionado, and Sheldon-esque comic book lover Andy Ihnatko suggests just that. When writing about LongBox, which seeks to do for comics what iTunes did for music (i.e. bring a fractured, self-destructive, myopic industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century), he says:
I’m pretty sure that Apple is entering into a formal alliance with LongBox. When I asked Hoseley about what kind of partnerships the company is forming, he spoke vaguely of what was taking up most of his time at the moment: a lengthy and complicated agreement with a seriously large company operating in the media space.
I pressed him for more details while on the record. Rantz would only hint that this specific company had received high-profile coverage in both the Engadget and Gizmodo blogs in the previous week.
Would I love to have read Planetary #27 on a gorgeous capacitive multi-touch display? Absolutely. Would the next logical step be dynamic content a la Watchman motion comic? Absolute-lier! Do we expect to see Steve Jobs hold up an iTablet in January, clearly showing the latest issue of Ultimate Avengers, Captain America in tight-focused frenzy? Who knows at this point, but the comic industry will go the way of the dinosaur if they don't adopt an iTunes-like online distribution method and soon, so as much as some of us want it, they need it.
The iPhone already has Comics, with a lot of independent content. Marvel and DC, where are you?
(Tangential - Steve Jobs is Disney's largest shareholder and Disney just bought Marvel.)
[via MacBreak Weekly. Photoshop above yet again a homage in honor of Windows 7 launch day!]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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"ultimate comic book reader"? WTF?
That's so silly it might work. Imagine carrying your favorite comics.
I know comics are still very popular in certain subcultures, but is the market really big enough to justify this as a selling point? I certainly have nothing against comics or fans of comics, but I've always gotten the feeling that it was a relatively fringe market. Have I gotten the wrong impression?
Honestly, all the things that have been said about the itablet, it's starting to sound like a touchscreen kindle with apples iPod capabilities thrown in.
Who needs an iTablet. The iPhone 3GS can do everything needed.
This would be a very good move for both Marvel and DC. Especially if they delivered their content on regular schedules and the comics were available for download as soon as they were released. It would also reduce the "comic clutter" for those collectors who buy simply to read, rather than for any sort of future profit potential and it would drive the value of existing printed comics up.
The one major disadvantage to the comic industry as a whole would be the effect it would have on distributors and local retailers (specifically stores specializing in comic book sales).
We're living in a time where graphic novel sales (i.e. comic book digests. Encapsulated tales from comic book series) along with manga (comic books from Japan) top book sales in mainstream book stores. Thar's money in them thar' hills.
...and comic books still sell very well, and would sell well on this, maybe mythical, device.
Add to this the sales now going to kindle/Sony/ other readers which would all fall in apple's hands with a reader that did more than just helped one read.
Great move. I'm waiting, and will be first in line for the new, maybe mythical, device.
Saw the apple tablet at the Texas state fair. 10 inch and either a 13 or 15 forgot what the bigger one was. Thickness was about the size of a closed MacBook air. The rep said they are coming out late next year!!! WTF. also he stated the battery life was currently NOT good and they were addressing that issue and the reason for pushed back launch. I replied, "I never heard of an actual launch date" and his response was... "exactly". Don't know what to take from that. The device was nice. It reminded me of a large iPhone. I didn't get hands on because they were being dislpayed only next to the next gen MacBooks and a couple iMacs that looked true to form apple.