While recent rumors have focused on Apple's long-rumored tablet device as a newspaper and book reader, columnist Walt Mossberg said he wouldn't expect a potential device to focus on only one function.
In his latest Q&A column, Mossberg, who writes for
The Wall Street Journal,
addressed a reader's query about a potential competitor Amazon Kindle competitor from Apple. He responded by saying he has no reason to believe Apple is making a dedicated e-book reader, nor does he have any evidence that the rumored 10-inch, touchscreen device would serve primarily as an e-book reader.
"The iPhone and iPod Touch already can run a free Kindle app from Amazon that allows you to read Kindle e-books on those devices without needing to own a Kindle itself," he said. "And Barnes & Noble, which has also announced a dedicated e-reader, has a similar iPhone app. So I assume that any general-purpose Apple tablet would likely be able to run such an app as well and function as an e-reader—along with performing other tasks."
He went on to say that it's possible Apple could enter the e-book business, but he has "zero hard evidence" to suggest it will actually happen.
Topics: App Store, tablet, Newton, Future Hardware
