Two things happened this morning which made me think if the latest article in the NYT about Apple’s Tablet was more of a confirmation than a coincidence.

Let’s start with this morning, first thing happened was that for the first time in a long time my morning local paper was not there. So instead of reading a paper during breakfast I used my iPhone to visit the paper’s website to catch up with the news. As good as the iPhone is, and even using my Mac, the news paper’s web content layout is rather basic, making it not very easy to “leaf” through the pages.

I started to think, it would be nice if there were a electronic device that was bigger than the iPhone and could deliver printed news similar to the physical paper layout and at the same time do some filtering and sorting as outlined in Nicholas Negroponte book titled “Being Digital”, see yesterday’s post.

The second thing that got me thinking about the Apple Tablet was when I used the NYT’s iPhone app to check their news. Highlighted in their Technology section was an article titled “With Apple Tablet, Print Media Hope for a Payday.”

There is not much news in the article since the general consensus is the Applet Tablet will be a personal media device and it’s primary function will be consuming digital content in various forms – text, audio, video, and a new breed of multimedia mashups.

However, it is interesting that a day before Apple’s media event the NYT posts such an article, especially since it was reported way back in September 2009, in an article on Gizmodo (Apple Tablet To Redefine Newspapers, Textbooks and Magazines), that the NYT was approached by Apple to talk about putting the paper on a “new device.” At that time NYT did not confirm such talks. It was much later, at the end of October, that the NYTexecutive editor, Bill Keller inadvertently confirmed the existence of the oft-rumored Apple Tablet in a private speech.

It’s no secret that multimedia content providers are desperately struggling to adapt their business models to the digital age. If Apple does announce a tablet offering a new platform to bring the masses a 21st century reading experience in the process, it would rank as another major achievement by Apple ushering in a new era of interactive reading that would change books, newspapers, and magazines forever. We will know in about 24 hours if it is true.

Back to the question, are we ready for a Multi-Media Revolution? As far as I am concerned I am ready since reading the book “Being Digital”. If Apple is releasing a tablet that has all the bells and whistles as rumored, I hope that the multimedia industry does accept it and starts offering their content with a business model that is good for both sides, the provider and consumer.