Rex Hammond has written a great blog post about the amazon Kindle. Not too different from my thoughts about it. I especially like the following part (and the mock-up image):

5. Why do we need an eBook reader?

This is directly related to my previous point, but it also relates what I wrote 18-months ago when a flurry of rumors hit about Apple developing an eBook reader. That post was even before the iPhone and the iPod Touch, but anticipated there being such a device that filled the rectangle of an iPod with a touch screen. As I pondered then, if an iPod like that (which we now have, the iPod Touch) was increased to the size of a book, why would there be a need for an eBook reader? If via that device we could access movies, music, the web, our email, talk with anyone in the world, etc., etc., what good would an eBook reader be? Note to those not thinking about this stuff: every time you purchase an album from the iTunes store, and the liner-notes come along with the download — you’re purchasing an eBook via Apple. In other words, Apple already owns a rather commanding distribution engine to sell “eBooks” called the iTunes Store — a platform that is already syncing with software sitting on the desktops of millions and millions of Macs and PCs worldwide.

So there’s the other elephant in the room: Apple. All it would take is Steve Jobs announcing on January 15 a new “iPod Touchbook” that is the same size and price as a Kindle and poof, Apple has the distribution channel and Amazon has something akin to the Zune.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’ll buy and review a Amazon Kindle, but what I really want my eBook reader to be is a Kindle-size iPod Touchbook (or what we call around here, Rumor #3). I guess since Apple doesn’t blog — they advertise and publicize and present and pronounce — I guess I am wasting my time blogging about this. Perhaps I should be sending this message to Apple in a way they might understand (Books are my girl frend…):