Random House Responds to iPad

By Jason Boog 

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Today Apple (AAPL) rocked the publishing world with a tablet computer called the iPad, a device with 9.7 inch LED-backlit screen, a special iBooks application and bookstore, and a base price of $499. Publishing partners mentioned in the presentation included: Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Hachette, but not Random House.

Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum had this statement when GalleyCat asked about the publisher’s absence in the iPad demonstration. “Random House welcomes Apple’s iPad and iBooks app and we look forward to our continuing conversations with them about how we might best work together.”

Here’s more about the iBook Store: “The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books. Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.”