Apple’s Magic Trackpad: is iBooks coming to the desktop?

This morning’s announcement from Apple has brought about some fantastic pieces of hardware that we’re chomping at the bit to get our hands on. Of course we’re all loving the newly-updated Macs and iMacs, but what’s really caught our attention is the new Magic Trackpad.

We first talked about the Magic Trackpad a couple of months ago, and called it pretty much as it came to be. The Trackpad will bring multitouch to any Apple computer that has Bluetooth and OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.4 with the latest software update.

The one thing that it’s missing, which we’re not terribly surprised about, is handwriting recognition. Even so, a software update could change that.

What’s truly interesting, though, about the Trackpad is what it could bring in the near future. Apple has been on a big push with iBooks since the launch of the service, and so far it has been quite successful. However, integrating iBooks into the desktop platform only makes sense.

For many of us, the thought of loading up iBooks onto our Macbooks or Mac desktop machines would give a welcome cross-platform that we’re missing as for now. Apple is no fool, in this game. In fact, the Apple site for the Trackpad mentions very plainly that “swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine”.

Will this be Apple’s next “one more thing”? It’s all speculation, for now. But just thinking about iBooks on a Macbook Pro is enough to have us wanting.