Is Apple Jumping On The E-Reader Bandwagon?

An anonymous comment on this blog entry pointed me to this CNN article: An Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon. An excerpt:

With rumors piling up about a forthcoming Apple tablet, it appears more and more likely that such a device will emerge soon.

But what's still unclear is how this gadget will set itself apart from Apple's multimedia-savvy product line, including the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the scores of failed tablet PCs that have come and gone.

Judging from the company's past moves, we're betting that Apple's tablet will be a media-centric device, focused -- at least in part -- on shaking up the publishing industry.

Apple is already prepared to blow Amazon and other e-book makers out of the water with one key weapon: iTunes. Having served more than 6 billion songs to date, the iTunes Store has flipped the music industry on its head.

Apple was not the first company to release an mp3 player. Other companies had been in the business ahead of it. In fact, when they announced their first iPod, the response was pretty underwhelming, to the point that some pundits were wondering if Apple had lost its touch in making innovative and flashy, faddy gadgets. But when Apple opened the iPod to Windows, the dominant computer operating system, it went on to become the #1 mp3 player of choice in the worldwide market. Now, we have mp3 players--expensive and really cheap--available everywhere. Almost everyone owns an mp3 player, whether as a separate gadget or as a feature of their cellphones. The iPod did not just take over the market, it grew it. Could Apple do the same for e-readers?