The Apple Tablet Week – Publishers Say Apple Tablet Won't Be Near $1000, Won't Have a Lot of Books Until Mid 2010

9to5Mac claims that they've talked to a few content publishers (magazines, newspapers), and those publishers are claiming inside knowledge about the device. Most importantly, that it'll be "[nowhere] near $1000, as has been reported elsewhere."

These publishers 9to5Mac talked to didn't actually see any prototypes, but it was described to them as a 10-inch glass screen that's smaller than a Kindle DX, but "with a similar weight." That the software is going to be the "game changer" is nothing new, but Apple's supposedly going around describing the tablet in comparison to the Kindle as the change from black and white TVs to color.

Other interesting bits: current ebook distributors on the App Store now are going to get screwed once Apple's official one hits, and don't expect a lot of content until "mid 2010 at the very earliest." [9to5Mac]

The Apple Tablet Week - The Apple Tablet

Dates Back to 1988

Since Wednesday is going to be the day the revolutionary and fantasized 'Apple Tablet/Slate/Pad (or whatever the !&*! you want to call it),' I have dedicated this week to it and only stories about the Tablet.

Apple started working on Newton in 1989, but as this infographic shows, the first seeds of tablet technology were sown well over a hundred years ago.

While we don't expect the iSlate iPad Apple tablet to come with a 19th-century stylus, this still provides great perspective on how long it's taken to get us to this point. Let's hope it lives up to history's expectations. [lalawag]