Analyst: iPad/iTablet will launch in March or April with 10.1-inch screen
As reported by AppleInsider, Reiner says Apple has been reaching out to book publishers with a "very attractive proposal" for offering content on a forthcoming ebook platform.
The analyst believes the tablet could provide an additional 50 cents to 75 cents in earnings per share for AAPL stock. Oppenheimer predicts that the company could sell between one million and 1.5 million devices per quarter at an average selling price of US$1,000.
Fortune adds that, among the other "tidbits" Reiner says he's picked up:
° Apple has settled on a 10.1-inch multi-touch display using the iPhone's LTPS LCD technology, not the considerably more expensive OLED technology suggested in earlier reports.
° Apple has been approaching U.S. book publishers with what Reiner describes as "a very attractive proposal" for distributing their content: an App Store-type 30/70 split (30% for Apple) with no exclusivity requirement. According to Reiner, publishers are disgruntled by Amazon's terms, which force exclusivity, disallow advertising and demand a "wolfish cut" of revenue. The typical Kindle/publisher split, he says, is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Amazon gets exclusivity.
° Apple's tablet would make ebooks more attractive for the education market by simplifying functions such as scribbling marginalia.
A second research note -- as reported by BusinessWeek -- corroborates Reiner’s claims. Vijay Rakesh at ThinkEquity, also comments on the tablet, saying checks of Apple’s supply chain suggest it’s on track to ship a tablet with 64 gigabytes of flash memory capacity by March. He expects Apple to build between 1 million and 3 million units initially, and that it expects to build 8 million to 10 million during the 2010 calendar year.
(The graphic above -- a mock-up, not a real photo -- is courtesy of PC World.)