Earlier this week, Apple, Inc. announced a release date for the first version of the heavily-anticipated iPad. The first, Wi-Fi only version ships on April 3^rd, with a second, 3G-enabled version slated to ship later in April. Pre-ordering starts for the Wi-Fi only version on March 12^th.

Since our previous posting relating to the initial iPad announcement, a number of content providers have posted some interesting announcements relating to products they will be releasing for the iPad, giving us an increasingly clear view of the ways in which the iPad may have a significant impact on the publishing industry.

Wired Magazine released new details on the iPad version of their magazine, which is intended to be a digital version of the actual print publication, with extended rich media content such as expandable images and embedded video. The standalone application will use a subscription access model and offer all the content of the print publication.

Additionally, textbook publishers appear to be embracing the iPad. McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Pearson and Kaplan have all reached deals to develop and release interactive educational and test-prep content to the iPad. Given the iPad’s powerful interactive media capabilities and clear utility as an eReader, its potential impact on the education publishing category is significant.

Finally, Penguin released details and a Youtube clip of their planned iPad content, which pushes the boundaries of the traditional eBook. Penguin’s approach takes advantage of the additional functionality offered by the iPad. Examples include integrated live chat and social networking among active readers of a given eBook and street maps integration between a travel book and the iPad’s Maps application. Their demonstration also features children’s and educational books, incorporating interactive, in-plot games, coloring, and quiz questions. Penguin views the iPad as an opportunity to offer premium versions of eBooks to consumers willing to pay a premium for enhanced content.

Penguin Group (USA) is launching a new imprint, called Current, to publish science titles for a general audience. Penguin president Adrian Zackheim said, “Once Current gets ramped up, we aim to publish in every subcategory from genetics to quantum physics to neuroscience. Our authors will be some of the foremost pioneers and experts in their respective fields.”

Current will publish between five and eight titles per year. The two debut titles are The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution, by David Stipp this July, and The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships, by Clifford Nass, with Corina Yen in September.

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Google announced on Wednesday that will scan up to a million Italian books held in the national libraries in Rome and Florence. Google has similar arrangements for out-of-print books with Oxford University, Madrid’s Complutense University and the Bavarian state museum.

Bleeding Cool, a blog for comic book fans, broke the news on March 7 of Amazon’s deeply discounted comics and graphic novels. News spread and fans started scooping up things like expensive box sets for around $15. For a while, most of the books in Amazon’s Top 100 were comic books.

It turned out to be a “glitch” that caused the drop in prices. Publishers Weekly reports that thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of orders were made with those low prices, but it’s still unclear how many of the orders will be honored. Some customers report that they have received their order, while others say their order was cancelled.

PW estimates the damage from the glitch could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars for either Amazon or Diamond Comics Distributors. Publishers who deal through Diamond include Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Avatar, and Dynamite.

Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool also reports that there are currently difficulties on Amazon ordering books represented by Diamond.

The Story Prize for 2009 was awarded to a collection entitled In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin.

About Mueenuddin’s book, the judges said:

“These stories are written with a deep sense of knowing; as though Mueenuddin’s skin is a particular kind of porous; there is an ache, an inescapable constant melancholy, our masterful guide, knows too much, feels too deeply — if such a thing is possible.”

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was also a finalist for the 2009 National Book Awards. It was included in many “top” lists of the year, including TIME magazine’s top 10 books of the year, Publishers Weekly’s top 10 books of 2009, The Economist’s top 10 fiction books of 2009, The Guardian’s best books of the year, The New Statesman’s best books of the year, and The New York Times‘ 100 best books of the year.

The Story Prize, which started in 2004, is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction. The other two finalists for 2009 include Victoria Patterson’s Drift and Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Mueenuddin received $20,000 and other two finalists received $5,000.

Henry Holt and Co. has decided to stop printing a new book from its catalog, The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino, after questions arose about its accuracy. The book examines the bombing of Hiroshima through the eyes of its survivors. It had received good reviews and James Cameron was even in line to direct the movie adaptation.

Shortly after its publication, however, The New York Times reported that one of Pellegrino’s sources, Joseph Fuoco, was possibly a phony:

[...] Mr. Fuoco, who died in 2008 at age 84 and lived in Westbury, N.Y., never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor.

Originally, Holt had planned to just correct future printings of the book, with changes to no more than five pages of text and one illustration. Then more doubts arose about the book’s veracity when Holt was unable to verify the existence of two subjects in the book, Father Mattias and John MacQuitty.

A statement released from the publisher reads:

”The author of any work of nonfiction must stand behind its content. We must rely on our authors to answer questions that may arise as to the accuracy of their work and reliability of their sources. Unfortunately, Mr. Pellegrino was not able to answer the additional questions that have arisen about his book to our satisfaction.”

Holt had already shipped 18,000 copies of The Last Train to Hiroshima, but will offer a credit to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers on returns of the book.