In the past I've been tempted by the Kindle and Nook ebook readers, but never enough to pull the trigger and buy one. They seemed to be only a minor step up from reading a PDF version of a book. Never find me wrong, the e-ink is very easy on the eyes, but still needing a book light to read at night without bothering the wife isn't a big improvement to me. But the more I read on the iPad's iBook features, the more I get hold of to thinking about the possibilities...

With the iPad you will still get hold of the colorful dust jacket art; the stoic picture of the author will be easily included. I will miss the smell of a good hardcover, and a chance to thumb fan the pages of a paperback. Hopefully the iBook reader enables you to insert a bookmark by folding over a corner of the page with a flick of your finger. Fantasy readers could pull up the map of the world that they're currently lost in with a tap. No more flipping back and forth racking your brains on where the Tanvis Stretch is with regards to Mul'trak Swamp.

Think about reading magna or a graphic novel on the iBook. I would buy a copy of Watchman for my iPad and frankly be more willing to take a chance on other publishes of this kind of medium.

Children's books would also translate well to the iPad (ignoring the fact of the ?500 piece of high tech hardware they would be holding). The interaction that might be allowed between the child and the iBook could be endless. You might do coloring books on the iPad and not necessarily worry about the clean up or if Billy put the green crayon up his nose again.

Several book publishers have already announced their support for the iPad, along with offline book stores such as Barnes and Nobles. Only time will tell if the iPad can challenge the printed book for popularity.