Everybody's talking about iPhone: what it will do, what it won't do, and is it worth the cost. I've even speculated on what might be in store for iPhone users.

One thing that some people still don't seem to understand is that, like the iPod, the iPhone is platform, a handheld computer, if you will, that just happens to let you make calls.

But that's not what I want to talk about, there more than enough media coverage on this device, so I really can't add anything significant.

What I want to talk about are eBooks.

I'll wait until you're done yawning.

There's an article that appeared about a year ago over at Engadget that claimed to have inside info that Apple is thinking about entering the eBook market. Yawn again if you'd like. A year has come and gone and there hasn't been a peep out of Apple about eBook readers.

To me the idea has merit, but truth be told I yawn whenever someone mentions eBook in the same sentence as iPod - that is until I saw this eBook Reader Design Proposal out on YouTube.

Now this is an eye opener. The idea is a solid one; use the iPod as the brains that docks with an ePaper based eBook reader. The infrastructure for finding and downloading eBooks is already available in the iPod and iTunes Store. If the iPod had tons of storage, you could conceivably carry your entire library with you on vacation, which, of course, you can do now, but with this idea, you might actually read something.

What is also interesting in that there may finally be a way to electronically get periodicals to subscribers that rival print. In fact, with an ePaper text reader, nearly anything, be it handwritten or typed, can be transmitted, downloaded, stored, and ultimately read in almost the same manner as paper documents.

Also, as ePaper finds more widespread use the cost of producing the it will fall, which means that it may be possible to put entire collections of important books in the hands of those who can least afford them. Basically, I'm saying that every kid could have an entire set of encyclopedias, the latest text books, and the best learning tools available to him or her regardless of their social or economic standing. Backpacks would shrink dramatically, much to the jubilation of every kid in America.

The down side? There are some.

While ePaper comes the closest yet to printed paper it still requires power, albeit very little power, to be used. ePaper can't show color photos or any multicolored image yet. ePaper displays can't change fast enough for quality animation, so forget about watching movies. And this is still just speculation. Steve Jobs has yet to lay this one on us much less hinted that Apple is even thinking about such a thing.

Beyond that I really can't think of any show stoppers. Actually, with the impending release of the iPhone there's even more reasons to hope that Apple takes a serious look at this proposal: Internet access from anywhere.

Along with being able to dock with the ePaper device I would propose that it be Bluetooth capable so that it can link to an iPhone. You could leave your iPhone in your pocket or take calls and still read documents from the Internet, even Web pages. It seems a perfect match.

The only other thing I would add to this proposal is a way to write on ePaper and have the results stored in your iPod. That would complete the circle and in many cases eliminate the need for regular paper.

This eBook Reader Design Proposal is a good idea and I hope someone at Apple takes this seriously. This is an idea that might actually work.