9to5Mac has learned some additional tablet details from sources inside publishing companies recently briefed on the device by Apple.
Here is a summary of the key points:
● Apple has been aggressively working on partnerships over the last month and hopes by Wednesday to say, we've signed up "all of the major publishers".
● Apple is pitching an "Agency model" which gives publishers more control and freedom for pricing vs. Amazon.
● Scrollmotion, the biggest current book contributor to the App Store, isn't part of this deal: "The smaller outfits are going to get screwed"
● Apple was looking for an example for the event but won't have large libraries of material in their book store until "mid 2010 at the very earliest"
● No prototypes were brought to the meetings, but the tablet was described as "a very-readable 10-inch glass screen smaller in size than the Kindle DX with a similar weight."
● Apple mentioned that the "software was the key to the experience and it would be the game changer". The shift from B&W televisions to Color is analogous to the Kindle vs. the Tablet.
● They say it isn't going to cost anywhere near $1000 as has been reported elsewhere.