Melville House Books

Completely concocted picture of the new Apple ereader

While America questions its devotedness to Amazon and especially the Kindle, folks in Britain are getting excited about a new device from Apple rumored to be coming out for Christmas. A story in The Bookseller synopsizes a story in The Financial Times (that’s unavailable to non-subscribers): “It would be a colour, flat-panel TV to the old-fashioned, black and white TV of the Kindle,” says one “publishing executive.”

The device is described further as “a portable, tablet-sized computer” that will be touch-sensitive and “have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally. It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch — probably without phone capability but with access to the web, and to Apple’s online stores for software and entertainment.”

What’s more, “The device is expected to be launched alongside new content deals,” and publishers are reportedly already involved in talks with Apple about those deals and are “optimistic about being included.”

Meanwhile, a report on AppleInsider describes a painstaking development process for the device under the direct suprevision of Steve Jobs, but says it won’t be out until the first quarter of next year.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.