Apple's Tablet: eBook, Netbook Or More Fodder For Windex?

The Apple "Tablet" has been even [more] confirmed today:

• Apple has settled on a 10.1-inch multi-touch display using the iPhone's LTPS LCD technology, not the considerably more expensive OLED technology suggested in earlier reports.

• Apple has been approaching U.S. book publishers with what Reiner describes as "a very attractive proposal" for distributing their content: an App Store-type 30/70 split (30% for Apple) with no exclusivity requirement.
• According to Reiner, publishers are disgruntled by Amazon's (AMZN) terms, which force exclusivity, disallow advertising and demand a "wolfish cut" of revenue. The typical Kindle/publisher split, he says, is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Amazon gets exclusivity.
• Apple's tablet would make ebooks more attractive for the education market by simplifying functions such as scribbling marginalia.

With apparent Amazon terms going to pot as it's being perceived (and might very well be) a Kindle Killer, apple's going to revised and make a more open-standards storefront allowing for future retailers to better customize and server their audience base.

Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will allow consumers to enjoy their favorite media content on portable digital devices.

While I love Apple products, and I'm obsessed with gadgets in all forms I'm wondering if the "form" itself might not be it's greatest downfall. Look we all know it will be an over-priced (speculated at $1,000 for 10" in your hand) first adopter iPrick of a gadget initially, I just hope it's not the Newton "2" – This is going to sound totally OCD but frankly the thing I hate the most about my iPhone is that fact that I feel compelled to clean it constantly because we, as humans, are just gross. Maybe playing around with a screen that I touch all day won't wig me out – but I doubt it.

Sources:
CNN Money
Nillabyte
MSNBC

Last minute questions – What is this going to do with the potential 300k iPhone applications that are currently not designed for the potential new "third-ratio?" Will apps need to become 1024 compliant? What OS shall we expect; open, closed? Will they just live exclusively from one another? Will this create a new tier for yet another Apple SDK?

And an interesting take on why this could bring about the coming apocalypse.