Apple iTablet = The Perfect Digital Comic Book Reader?

I've written about digital comic readers before (heck, I even made my own ComicKindle). And I know it won't be long at all before we see them come to life. It seems like Apple would be the kind of company to reinvent the way we look at comics (much like the way they reinvented the way we listen to music). So I wasn't shocked to read a Chicago Sun-Times column earlier this week announcing that just such a thing may be happening:

Apple’s upcoming tablet computer (whoops, “rumored” upcoming tablet) just got a little more interesting: there are signs that the company is getting into the digital comic book market.

Which is tantamount to saying “Apple is helping to create a digital comic book market.”

...When a startup company named Longbox made the rounds of the major comix conventions this year to outline their plans for an iTunes Store-like marketplace for comic books, it had the feeling of Clint Eastwood riding into a Mexican border town suffering under the vice-like control of a corrupt governor. A great many people are thinking “Finally!” and hoping that this newcomer can finally clean things up. 

Comic-industry cluelessness and their inability to unite towards a common, mutual good are the two main reasons why we haven’t seen anything like LongBox before. But they probably haven’t been as serious a roadblock as the simple lack of any portable device that’s perfectly-suited to reading digital comics.

This is a form of storytelling that needs a tablet. A big, page-sized color screen with lots of resolution and a touch interface for turning pages and navigating from panel to panel.

Apple is rumored to be making one of those things. And they’re also rumored to be speaking with a great many high-profile print publishers about bringing their content to this new device.

I’m pretty sure that Apple is entering into a formal alliance with LongBox. When I asked [Longbox CEO] Hoseley about what kind of partnerships the company is forming, he spoke vaguely of what was taking up most of his time at the moment: a lengthy and complicated agreement with a seriously large company operating in the media space.

The entire article is a great read, as writer Andy Ihnatko really delves into what Longbox hopes to bring to the table as well as why these things have failed in the past. Seeing as how Steve Jobs is a MAJOR Disney shareholder, I can imagine Marvel Comics coming to an iTablet near you very soon...

Comments

[Dennis B.]

Instead of waiting for vaporware (which is what the Apple tablet really is), why not utilize the tablets that HP and Lenovo have available (for about 5 years now) already? Apple makes pretty and expensive products, but they routinely just use tech that's already been out there for years and call it 'new' or 'ground-breaking'.

[Carlos]

I think the difference is, they make it easier/more accessible for people, then charge too much (because they're passing on the cost of making it easy/accessible).

[Dennis B.]

So you're saying that Apple charges people a Stupid Tax?

[Dennis B.]

Oh, and this just came out yesterday.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/24/archos_9pctablet/