E-publishing just got more interesting...

iPad is backlit. No way can it compete with eReaders with eInk when it comes to books. My guess is that it won't. I think it's just a spiel to get some attention. iPad costs more than any of them, so yeah... I wouldn't take them too seriously when it comes to books.

I really think it depends on their marketing strategy. You have to remember, there is a whole host of people in that "younger generation" that really couldn't give two sneezes about staring at a computer screen all... day... long. I know my brother even eats in front of the computer, and he's quite normal compared to all of his friends. How would looking at the iPad screen for a long period of time be any different for people like that? If that particular target market continues/expands in size and also gets on the band wagon, than I can see Apple being extremely competitive with some of the other existing systems.

cscarlet said:

I know my brother even eats in front of the computer, and he's quite normal compared to all of his friends. How would looking at the iPad screen for a long period of time be any different for people like that?

Click to expand...

He only looks at the screen rather than an e-ink reader because he has to. Of course it's more pleasant to read from something that isn't backlit, for everybody. An annoyance will only be tolerated if there's a sufficient pay-off to do so. If we have a choice between one backlit product and one that isn't, its simply a question of pricing and how much we value shiny colours. The iPad is more expensive than the readers and books are printed in black and white. I don't think marginally cheaper eBooks will be enough of a selling point. I'd love to be wrong, but I'm sticking to my guns here.

I still think the iPad might be popular and find it's niche. After all it has a lot of handy features. But as a viable contender on the eBook market I don't think it has a chance. I don't think anybody is going to read a novel on one of those things.

I see it as yet another ebook reader on the market, nothing revolutionary. A few more people will have a device that works for them.

I suspect that e-ink will swiftly lose its luster as the higher resolution color screens hit the market and allow for less glare while faithfully reproducing the look of a printed page. Only high resolution color e-ink will turn this around.

The iPad? It will kill the Kindle DX in its present form on both price point and capabilities, but remains an unattractive alternative to the existing Kindle for those who don't want to spend the money. Beyond that, it is simply a large iPhone without the phone. Other competitors are on the way, so Apple will have to fight hard to stay dominant. I expect the iPad will undergo more than a few enhancements just like the iPhone did.

The e-book that will win, will be the one that does far more than simply present a book. The best analogy is the PS3 back when blue-ray readers were the same price and quality. With the dedicated players you could watch movies. With the PS3 you could watch a movie....and play all these games. Guess who sold more units?

The best thing about the iPad, for now, is that it will drive down cost through competition. This will result in greater accessibility - a real stalling point with any e-reader. In that respect, e-publishing has indeed gotten interesting and will continue to do so as the year progresses and more products hit the street.

Kerry

There was a fascination post on Agent Kristin's blog, Pub Rants, yesterday. She actually seems to think that the iPad would revolutionize the industry a bit, at least in the way that electronic rights are negotiated. Well worth seeing what she has to say.

I have a friend who made me eat my words. According to him he has no problems reading from an LCD screen, and has no idea what I'm on about. He's read several books on his iPhone and does so quite cheerfully. He also claimed that the iPhone is by far the most popular platform to read eBooks on, which sounds implausible, but not impossible. Does anybody know? Is there any reliable statistics on the preferred method of reading eBooks?

I don't know about statistics, but I too have read several books on my iPhone with no issues, and I truly, passionately hate reading on a screen up till now. It is back-lit, but that just makes reading in the dark that much easier.

I read on my iPod touch and I prefer it to all my other options. iPod touch/iPhone has a big enough screen to read comfortably on, but a small enough device to fit in my purse or pocket, and not be unwieldy to hold or too fragile to want to carry around.

The iPad, though, doesn't look like much. First off, it isn't as portable. Second, most of the apps so far seem like poorly scaled-up iPhone apps and the price is prohibitive. Third, the name is just...well, there are already enough sites out there with the jokes.

The ease-of-use thing makes me really wonder if single-use tech is really the way ebooks will be delivered. Seems to me that having something with more than one use (phone, ereader, casual game console, mp3 player, calendar, etc.) justifies the expense in people's minds much more than a single-use device.

I think the iPad is going to be huge in terms of opening up the market. Right now, ereaders appeal to a very small niche of people. If you read a lot of author/agent/reviewer blogs, it seems like everyone has one.

Outside that niche, I rarely encounter anyone who has one.

The iPad, as said upthread, is a media consuming device. That means a much broader audience outside the devoted reader core is potentially going to have one. Anything that grows the potential market is a win.

I'd like to see a situation where I put links to my stories on my website that say "Buy Now From iBooks" just as musician friends do.

I want one, but not gonna pay the price they want for it. At least not at this time

Usability and multitasking are important. Unfortunately, the iPad is still limited by only being able to run one app at a time. I would not be surprised to see Google one-up this one with an android-platform or chromeOS-based thing.

This holiday season I now know two or three people who aren't bibliophiles per se who got Kindles as gifts. It's starting to trickle out from specialty to novelty.