Apple iPad and iBooks Store: The Next Standard In e-Reader?

Apple finally revealed its long-rumored tablet: iPad. It’s half inch thick, weighs about 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7 inch touchscreen (IPS LCD), powered by a custom made A4 1GHz CPU. All iPod touch/iPhone applications can be used on iPad without any port or modifications. The battery can last about 10 hours and one month during standby. The build-in storage comes with 16, 32 and 64GB. As for connectivity, it has a 30-pin Dock connector, one speaker and one mic connect, along with the Bluetooth and WiFi (802.11n). Nothing spectacular, right?

Don’t forget Apple has Apps. The new iBook Store, an ebook reader and store designed for the iPad, uses ePub format. Several publishers (like McGraw-Hill, Penguin, Simon & Schuster) have joined Apple to publish their ebooks through the iBook Store. This is, to date, the most promising rival for the Amazon Kindle. Let’s just sit back and wait for some fresh hands-on reviews on the iPad.