Although Creative hasn't made an official announcement, news reports indicate that the Mediabook has a touchscreen, Internet connectivity, slots for SD memory cards, text-to-speech capability, and is based on the company's Zii technology.

Kindle 'Just Another Electronic Device'

There was no word on the Mediabook's launch date, but the e-reader category is already beginning to have more than a few entries. There's the best known, Amazon's Kindle, as well as Sony's recently updated e-readers and the newly released nook from Barnes & Noble, among others.

There are also reports that tiremaker Bridgestone is developing a flexible e-book reader, although so far it's only a prototype. And there have been many reports that Apple is preparing to enter the market early next year with its own tablet e-reader.

Creative Labs' fan site Epizenter.net originated the Mediabook report, and quotes Willie Png, vice president of strategic business, as downplaying the Kindle as "just another electronic device which displays books in text." By contrast, Png told the site, the Mediabook will allow the merger of "videos, pictures, text and services into one device that supports a media-rich experience."

Epizenter also reports that Creative is in discussion with a variety of publishers about providing content.

LCD or Electrophoretic?

There was also no word on what kind of screen the Mediabook would use. Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, pointed out that, while LCD screens are good for video and graphics, electrophoretic screens have higher contrast and make reading text easier.

She noted that E Ink, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., "now has about 100 percent market share" in electrophoretic screens, but that will change next year as competition heats up.

In general, she said, 2010 is shaping up to be "an interesting year for the e-reader space" with new tablets and dual-screen readers emerging. But Epps pointed out that, right now, most of the announcements are reaching the industry, not consumers.

For the consumer, she said, the e-reader category is still largely the Kindle, but a few developments could make big differences. She said one would be if Apple decides to make e-publications a big category on iTunes, in which case "Apple would become a major player overnight."

The other development, she said, is if BlackBerry maker Research in Motion or another smartphone maker decides to release a double-screen device, with both a LCD and an E Ink display.

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at NPD Group, noted that Google's open-source operating system, Android, is increasingly showing up on these devices. He pointed out that Barnes & Noble's nook is Android-based, as is Creative's recently released Zii Egg, which features 1080p high-definition video and is described by Creative as a "StemCell Computer."

Rubin noted that several of Creative's Android-based devices, like those based on Zii technology, have been more focused toward developers and not yet released to a mass market in the U.S.