Will the Apple tablet kill e-book readers? Some reasons for doubt

Among other coverage recently of the seemingly imminent Apple tablet computer, the New York Times says the device will sport a 10-inch color display that will allow newspapers and magazines to "deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print." The Huffington Post is inviting readers to select the e-book readers, if any, that may survive the arrival of the Apple device.

The prospect of an Apple tablet computer offering e-book capability certainly spawns questions about whether such a device will do for digital books what the iPod did for digital music. Namely, tame an emerging technology, and all but crush the competition, with a superb and synergistic combination of hardware and software.

Maybe. For all of Apple's track record as a game-changer, I see several issues that a multipurpose iSlate, or whatever it's called, will need to overcome to slay standalone e-book readers such as the Kindle.

First, its probable price. Speculation swirls about what the Apple device might cost, with some reports saying it will be at least $800 while others, including MacRumors, saying it will not be priced "anywhere near the $1,000 price point."

Yet the device is very likely to cost more than the $259 you'll now pay for the Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook. Unless people value the other functions of the iSlate enough to add another screen to their lives, I don't think they'll do so primarily in order to read e-books, when competing devices are a third the price.

Next, its screen. A 10-incher would make the Apple device's screen about the same size as that of the Amazon Kindle DX. But that $489 Kindle is, in my opinion, oversized for book reading and its bulk compromises portability.

The device's likely screen technology is also an issue. While an Apple patent raises some interesting promise about what that might be, the color capability of Apple's multipurpose device all but precludes that it be the e-ink technology used in almost all current e-book readers, since a color version of that isn't yet in production. E Ink, at least for moment, offers crisper type and longer battery life than other screen technologies, including the LCD screens of laptop computers.

That said, the experience of using Apple's iPhone to read Kindle books, as you now can by downloading a free app, is surprisingly enjoyable. There's every reason to think that e-reading experience will not only be preserved on the bigger screen of the new Apple device but enhanced, through color and likely greater interactivity with the e-content.

So, while I'm skeptical that tomorrow's Apple announcements sound a death knell for the dedicated e-book reader, I plan to watch closely to see what e-reading capabilities they reveal. The event in San Francisco will be covered in person by Consumer Reports Technology Editor Jeff Fox and senior editor Donna Tapellini.

—Paul Reynolds.