Apple (AAPL) Scrambles For iPad Content, As Amazon.com (AMZN) Capitulates

Electronic junkies and gadget heads are all set to get their hands on the lond-awaited iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), but CEO Steve Jobs' new "must have" device may not be ready for the market at launch.

With just weeks to go before the launch of the tablet device, Apple is still trying to secure media content licenses for the iPad. The company is scrambling to deliver on its initial ambitions for TV programming, digital newspapers and other media content ahead of the scheduled April 3 release.

Apple is still haggling over price with TV companies for content that will be downloadable to the device, while according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal, Apple has put aside negotiations for the time being with print media companies to bring some digital sources to the iPad.

The ongoing discussions are due to the revolutionary ambitions of the product. Jobs will bring a fully Internet connected device to the masses, but it may take some time for the full benefits of the iPad to be realized.

Few media companies are interested in allowing TV shows to be downloaded on the device from the start. Apple wants to drop the price of shows in the iTunes store to 99 cents each from the current charge of $1.99 to $2.99.

It may take tome for the media companies to see the full advantage of the device, but if Jobs is able to put an iPad in the lap of as many consumers that have an iPhone or iPod in their pocket, the content will come.

The iPad will also be hobbled out of the gate by not supporting Adobe Systems' (Nasdaq: ADBE) Flash video technology, which many publishers use to present multimedia content and is also an online ad technology.

One deal that has been struck includes the addition of an application for Apple products to download e-books from Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle store. The downloaded content will be viewable on iPhones, the iPod Touch, Mac computers and most importantly the iPad.

The deal will increase the e-reader capability of the new tablet, as the Kindle content will add to the forthcoming iBooks store from Apple.

The new application also makes it clear that Amazon does not really see the Kindle device itself as a money making machine, but the e-books themselves as the true cash cow. Amazon is looking to cement itself as the leader in the e-reader market by allowing its digital book content to be used on other devices.

Apple is still receiving plenty of buzz for its upcoming iPad launch, as the company estimates that it could sell more units of the tablet device in the first three months of release than it sold of the popular iPhone in the same time.

According to people familiar with the matter, hundreds of thousands of orders have been placed for the iPad since the pre-sale began one week ago.

Shares of Apple are down 1 percent in early market movement on Friday to $222.41.

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