Atomic Fez Publishing

UPDATED JANUARY 27, 2010

Let’s start with the definite points, shall we?

The files for all four of the books are at the printers and I am now waiting for proofs of the covers and text blocks to arrive so they can be approved. At this point, it’s pretty-​​much a formality, as things have been checked six ways to Sunday by now, so it would take something fairly major to require any file to be replaced.

I’m quite looking forward to visiting the UK again, even if it does mean I check into hotels a total of five times in a period of two-​​and-​​a-​​half weeks. While this schedule could be described as “living the rock star life”, but it’s unlikely I’ll be seeing anything of the rest of the events which go with that.

There are a few days around the two events I’ll be using to do something “fun” around London, but mostly I’ll be stood behind a table verbally accosting passing civilians and urging them to part with their ready cash in return for which they will receive a copy of one of those fine books above this paragraph. My, they look lovely, don’t they? Wouldn’t one of those look great in your driveway? Take one for a spin today! Just click the cover of a book to be taken to the details page and purchase one now!

Sorry… I was just practising.

In the middle of last week, Kobo announced that, with applications already in development for Windows 7, Android and [cough] additional operating systems, the service will be available for [cough] various tablet and [cough–cough] slate computers in February 2010.

For those of you just catching-​​up with this, Kobo (www.kobobooks.com) is a global eReading service that offers mobile applications on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palm Pre, as well as support for netbooks and dedicated eReaders, like the Sony eReader. Kobo’s selection of popular books includes more than two million titles with content from major publishers including Atomic Fez.

Now, let’s return to that announcement about these [cough] additional operating systems. You see, once you’ve named Windows 7 and Android, there’s not too many left. At least, not when it comes to these “various tablet and slate computers” which are suddenly going to be supported next month by the e-​​book software platform. Other than the smart-​​phone hardware platforms, there aren’t many hand-​​held devices that Kobo doesn’t already support, for one thing. Plus, there’s not too many hand-​​held devices that don’t use either Windows of some flavour or Android already.

Except for one: Apple.

The OS for Apple computers is “OSX”, and the one for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the iPhone OS. There’s a big announcement in the middle of next week hosted by Apple’s Steve Jobs, with what’s descibed as a major product announcement. This, everyone agrees, has to be the long-​​awaited Apple tablet-​​based device, likely to hit shelves somewhere between March and June.

All of this fits perfectly with what many guessed – including myself at one point – to be the schedule for the little device that Steve has wanted to see in production probably since his little hand-​​held personal organizer Eliza was soundly pilloried by almost everyone who tried to use it. That was an experience that he probably wants to put behind him finally by creating something which does the same sort of thing: provide truly portable full computing ability for the masses. He’s frequently mocked net-​​books as being under-​​powered and lame when it comes to anything beyond the basics of typical users’ tasks.

Granted, he also regularly mocked computers with colour screens and mobile music devices, only to introduce the Apple IIGS and the original iPod, so just about anything he publicly says against some idea has to be taken with less than a grain of salt.

At one point, though, it seemed like the little hardware he yearned to release was about to début last autumn, coinciding with Mr. Jobs’s return to the office after his kidney operation. Scuttlebutt suggests that, while this was the plan, it was delayed from that event’s launch due to a few bugs still being present in the system. Apple’s marketing catchphrase at one point was “it just works”, and that approach to their products being as simple as ‘open the box, plug it in, turn it on, start doing stuff you want to’ drives the company inwardly and very much aids their sales figures. Indeed, that’s why so many people seemingly are eschewing the world of Windows-​​based computing and opting for the Apple products which may be initially expensive, but prove to be more cost-​​effective with their little down-​​time and ease of usage training. Logically, were the dingus to be released and not work too well, Steve would have another Eliza on his hands, and possibly destroy his liver drowning his sorrows.

Kobo is being very smart – they always have been, and that’s why they’re handling the mass-​​market distribution of Atomic Fez’s books – and is hedging their bets by saying they’ll be supporting both “tablet” and “slate” personal computing devices come next month. Both terms are being used to describe this mysterious Apple device, and it’s possible Kobo’s marketing boffins don’t even know themselves what the thing’s called yet. No matter what the name, they’re declaring themselves to be “ready to go”, once they know where it is they’re going, certainly.

ADDED 2010-​​01-​​27: Kobo has confirmed they’ll have all books published through their platform as readable on the iPad, as well as having an app ready for the tablet when it hits the shelves in late-​​March of this year. Head here for the official declaration of “all will be well” from the Kobo people.

So, what’s the big deal about the tablet? No one’s ever made one catch-​​on with the public’s desire; we already have notebooks for those who want portable full-​​computer power, and netbooks for those who want lighter devices that handle the simpler tasks only; for those who want something in their pocket as communication there’s the iPhone, Blackberry, or any other ‘smartphone’; what part of the technology market isn’t being served in some way already?

Imagine all of those devices in the previous paragraph in one, and still be small enough to put in the smallest briefcase or reasonable-​​sized shoulderbag. Now add a TV and an e-​​book reader. That’s what this thing is likely to be.

This may be the thing that blows open technology to a level where we’re looking at the world of Blade Runner, Max Headroom, Star Trek, and 2001: a Space Odyssey (minus HAL, one hopes) as not just being possible, but actually being here. The thing I’ve always grumbled about with ‘e-​​reader hardware’ is that the only damned thing they do is show you a book, with the possible addition of playing music. This, to me, isn’t worth the $300 – 500 price tag. You can get a decent netbook all tricked out with extras for that, and even a basic laptop can be had for that price in the USA.

The Apple tablet promises to be all of the above and more, plus really thin and very sexy. Netbooks and laptops can be used to read books, but the horizontal rectangle of their screens aren’t the tall shape we’re used to for “book reading”. You can turn your laptop or netbook 90 degrees, sure, but you’re now making the hard-​​drive work at an angle it wasn’t designed to work at, the most frequent cause of damage requiring repair, according to one serviceman I read a letter from. The new tablet is designed to work in both position, apparently, and even has connections on two sides specifically to make this as easy as possible on your desk or wherever you need to set it.

Rumour has it that the thing will also stream television and movie content for a monthly fee, and some suggest it will also offer cellular signal support. I don’t buy that last one, frankly; it may be slim and small, but no one would want to use a cell phone the size of a pocket book anymore.

If you listen to all the rumours, the Apple tablet is also responsible for Steve Jobs’s new kidney, will shortly be solving the Middle East Crisis, make you twelve pounds slimmer, and provide Haïti with new buildings and infrastructure inside of a fortnight.

There’s a huge difference between something being “way cool” and something being truly “life altering”. On the whole, this little baby is very much the first one, and for a few people might be the second but only because they’ve convinced themselves of the matter.

No reason to not get excited about it. Perspective is a good thing on the whole, though.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 12:39 (UTC) and is filed under Announcements, Books, Business, Events, Industry Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.