The following is from Bill McCoy’s Books 2.0 blog. You can read the full post here.
There was a lot of discussion earlier this week about the discovery (via Daring Fireball) of a new Apple JavaScript framework, used to implement the iPhone User Guide (link for iPhone users). The PastryKit framework enables HTML-based content with a more iPhone-native UI: full screen support, fixed-position toolbars, and native-feel scrolling. Much of the speculation focused on implications for mobile app development. But looking at PastryKit as just an “iPhone Web app library” misses a key point: the iPhone User Guide is not an application but a rich interactive eBook. Thus PastryKit (and the related TuneKit framework for iTunes LP) are very likely tip-offs to the format underpinnings of Apple’s widely rumored plans to “reboot publishing” in conjunction with the pervasively rumored “iPad tablet” device.
