Here is one article I found from Yahoo talking about publishers outlook on the iPad.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100402/media_nm/us_apple_ipad_media

The part of this article that I found most interesting was that it points out that early ebook models have failed.  Everyone keeps hoping that they will become this great devices but it just has not happened yet. 

My question, is it the market/sales model that is holding ebooks back or is it that physical books have a value beyond that?  I tend to think the latter.  Is there not a value in curling up with a book on a sunny day?  Can you get that value from the iPad?  I certainly don’t think so. 

Even though I still don’t think Ebooks and Ereaders are going to take over, I do understand why publishers are continuing to try.  It is another way of getting your product out there.  And I would imagine, it is a low cost way to do so.  I could be completely wrong on that but I would imagine it is cheaper to have an electronic version of a book formatted then to go through the entire product of a physical book. 

It will be interesting to see how much the iPad focuses on apps that have to do with books.  I work in a store that sells a device with an ebook app and it is something that we tell customers about but don’t always push.  In my experience, it has not been a selling point yet.  Will this change as more devices enter the market?

Did anyone actually pick up the iPad?  Have you tried reading a book on it?  It seems a bit too big to make reading comfortable to me but I would love to hear what other people think.