Over at Salon, Thomas Rogers looks at how the looming Apple Tablet might affect the world of publishing. It’s a good read, but Rogers seems a bit out-to-lunch when he suggests that publishers and booksellers are looking forward to the Tablet’s launch:

Although anticipation has already reached a fever pitch (just take a look at Twitter’s most popular topics on most days) book publishers have an especially vested interest in the gadget. While there have been numerous electronic book readers coming out in the last year (including the most recent, The Skiff), few have managed to capture the public’s imagination beyond the Amazon Kindle “ which hasn’t exactly done much for publishers’ bottom line. Many people in the beleaguered industry are hoping that device will do for reading what the iPod and iTunes did for music. A survey among booksellers claimed that an Apple e-reader would be one of the main factors that will help push digital publishing forward. But will the tablet be the game-changer they’re hoping for?

Memo to Rogers: most publishers are terrified of the digital future “ and not always without reason. And booksellers? They could be rendered obsolete if gadgets like the Tablet truly take off. Just sayin’.