What Changes will the iPad Bring to Ebooks?

April 3--the day the Apple iPad is available (preorders have already been occurring)--is fast approaching. Once this new device is in owners' hands, it will be interesting to see what happens next in the ebook world.

A new kind of book?: Aptara--a knowledge process outsourcing corporation--says of the iPad, "Its anticipated ability to incorporate color, video, interactivity and sound into the ebook experience, along ith its user-friendly touch-screen interfact, means publishers may be able to move beyond the model of simply reproducing printed pages on an electronic screen." The prognostication is that the future may bring a new kind of ebook--one with video, graphics and sound. For a graphic of the different things the iPad may be able to do for an ebook, go to Aptara's site here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Choosing your store: iPad owners will be able to choose which online bookstore they want to use. Amazon and B&N reportedly are working on iPad apps for their own bookstores. The Amazon Kindle app will allow Kindle users to download their current library of books to the iPad. The same is expected for the B&N app. Current users of these two bookstores may choose to continue using those stores in order to have this kind of flexibility on various reading devices. Which makes it even more interesting when you think about pricing. With all the pricing battles going on with Amazon, will readers continue to buy ebooks there, even if they have an iPad?>

Anyone out there preordered an iPad? Anyone rushing down to buy one on April 3?