Don’t Sell Your Amazon Stock Just Yet
“We’re incredibly psyched to pioneer the next generation of digital journalism,” Martin Nisenholtz senior vice president, digital operations for The New York Times, gushed during today’s iPad debut.
Frankly, folks, the future looks pretty boring.
The New York Times looked lovely on the iPad. But… inline video clips and photos? Synching to the iPhone? That’s all? Nice, but surely we can do better?
While the iPad has turned out to be much more than a way to save trees, porting print to digital was widely expected to be a big part of the package, at least for news publishers who are struggling to hold their own in a dying market and presumably for the 6 million people that a recent study by Forrester Research indicated will buy e-readers this year.
Media reports released pre-show strongly suggested that what we now know as the iPad could be nothing less than the messiah of the publishing industry. The Wall Street Journal stated on Tuesday that “Book publishers were locked in 11th-hour negotiations with Apple Inc. that could rewrite the industry's revenue model after the technology giant unveils its highly anticipated tablet device Wednesday … Apple's new multimedia tablet device … is trying to change the way much of traditional media is delivered.”
The reality was less than a revolution, at least as far as traditional media was concerned. It’s a beautiful new device, but the media it delivers still looks the same.
Enthroned on stage in his comfy chair, Steve correctly positioned the iPad as a device that creates “a third category between a laptop and a smartphone.” A device that lets you browse the web, email, look at and share photos, watch videos, play games, enjoy music and read e-books.
Altogether, it’s a great package. But if you primarily want an e-book reader (because you already have, for example, an iPhone and a MacBook), the iPad isn’t the most compelling choice.
The iPad does boast a color display, unlike any other reader, which is a big step forward. Steve said Apple has partnered with five publishers to deliver content: Penguin, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins and Hachette. Representatives from none of these companies joined Steve on stage.
iBooks supports the open ePub format, unlike Amazon’s Kindle which uses a proprietary format. This is great, because iPad owners will be able to download public domain books from Google and check out books from their local library, as well as buy books from Apple’s own book store. But other e-book readers use the same ePub format, so that doesn’t give Apple a big edge.
The demo screens indicated that the eBooks from the iBookstore will be priced from $9.95 to $14.95, other digital book stores tend to hold the line at $9.95. In fact, Ted Kennedy’s True Compass: A Memoir, shown on stage at the iPad demo, is sold for $9.95 at Amazon (Kindle edition) and $14.95 at the Apple iBooks store (according to the price shown on screen during the demo).
iBooks has all the basic features you’d expect in a digital reader app with a few nice refinements, for example rather than just changing the size of the font you can change the actual font itself as well as its size. You tap right or left, or drag, to flip though pages.
All other e-book reading devices offer free wireless downloads for books -- there’s no need to pay a monthly access fee. iPad users will have to cough up the cash, for 250MB of any type of content a month, it’ll be $14.99 or $29.99 for unlimited data. Service provided by AT&T, and iPads have WiFi and (at least some models) have 3G. All the currently available e-Book readers have 3G, most have WiFi. The pricing model makes sense, because the iPad isn’t a dedicated book reader, but it’s a drawback for those who are primarily interested in using it as a reader.
Priced at $499 for the basic model, the iPad is twice as much as Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes’ and Noble’s Nook. That’s more than fair -- the iPad does much more than either of the readers. But again, if all you wanted was an e-book reader, the iPad is a costly choice.
As a total package, the iPad is undeniably cool. As the savior of the publishing industry, the promised messiah that was going to take us forward into a world of interactive books and new ways of producing and interacting with text content… it falls short.
The Form Factor:
The iPad: 9.56”x 7.47”x 0.5 inch,1.5 pounds, 9.7 inch ED-backlit color screen with 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi), 1GHz Apple A4 chip, 16-64 GB flash storage, pricing starts at $499 for 16 GB of storage and Wi-Fi, tops out at $829 for 64GB of storage with WiFi and 3G.
The E-book Reader Competition:
Kindle 2
$259.00
Amazon
10.2 ounces, 8" x 5.3" x 0.36", 6" diagonal black and white E Ink display with no backlighting. 3G Wireless connectivity at no charge (paid by Amazon), battery life up to 1 week with wireless on, up to 2 weeks with wireless off. MP3 player. The New Oxford American Dictionary included. Holds up to 1,500 books (memory is not expandable), text size is adjustable, the Kindle can read aloud to you and has a QWERTY keyboard.
The Kindle 2 has a basic web browser that’s usable with text-centric sites. Amazon claims over 400,000 books are available for the platform “and we are adding more every day.” New York Times Best Sellers and most new releases are $9.99, users can download a chapter or two of books they are interested in for free, and buy the book if they are interested in reading further. The Kindle uses a proprietary e-book format. Amazon recently announced that it would be releasing a Kindle Development Kit in February which gives developers access to programming interfaces, tools and documentation to build active content for Kindle.
The Kindle DX has a 9.7" diagonal e-ink screen and is 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38". It holds 3,500 books and sells for $489.00
Nook
$259
Barnes and Noble
(Expected ship date Feb 12)
11.2 ounces, 7.7”x4.9”x 0.5”, 6" diagonal black and white E Ink display with no backlighting, 3.5 inch color navigation touch screen, 3G wireless and Barnes & Noble in-store Wi-Fi (B&N promises that Nook owners will be able to read entire e-books for free in the store). Up to 1,500 eBooks, with a 16GB MicroSD card capacity is expanded to up to 17,500 eBooks. Includes MP3 player.
The Nook supports industry standard e-book formats so users can also download the free public domain titles from Google Books and check out library books as well as purchase books from B&N’s bookstore and independent publishers. Reviews have indicated slow performance and limited battery life. The Nook’s most exciting features are centered on its use of non-proprietary formats and open source software.
The Daily Edition
$399.99
Sony
12.75 ounces, 5” x 8-1/8” x 0.6", 7 inch black and white E Ink display, 3G wireless (free), memory expandable to 32 GB, Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, Sony claims 7 days of use with wireless on, up to two and a half weeks with wireless off. No internet browsing, no text to speech.
Like the Nook, Sony’s reader supports industry standard e-book formats, but its store offers a smaller selection of recent books, and fewer periodicals and newspapers, than Amazon or B&N. It’s bigger screen is the standout feature here, and doesn’t seem to justify the significantly higher price point.
waichiwolves
September 20, 2010 at 12:57am
you come on:) first of all apple sales person will tell you that the battery is only meant to last a couple of years-(oh you can pay the 90 bucks for battery replacement) but it is for only 2 years. after that you are doomed-no more replacement. The rep said that they designed it to run out so people buy a new toy, like trading in phones- well after 2 years I get to trade in my phone for a new one free- so it is not like getting a new phone, it is like shelling out another 800 bucks for a new Ipad. Oh, you can try to replace the battery your self, he- he, if you don't destroy the Ipad in doing so. Watch you tube for the instructions on taking out the battery! reminds me of when my dad taught me to change out the glass tubes in our television-good luck in not ruining a 600 dollar book reader. also, i back up my books on my computer with kindle. Kindle is always looking for ways to improve its device, and I love the new DX. Ipad is just a very expensive new toy, but for book lovers we want simplicity-now if you have time to sit at barnes and noble all day-the benefit to getting a nook is reading free at barnes and nobles, but they don't have the access to the books like the kindle. also, ps, the Ipad doesn't have as many books to access either. (and ps. no monthly charge for the wifi on the kindle) book lovers love their kindle, and sure I would bet against Steve anyday. He needs to concentrated on his high end computer domain. It's just like Itunes with Ipod. I have had a Zune for over a year. And I love it also. I agree with the system manager, Itunes is a freaky waste of their time.
IPadNightmare
July 29, 2010 at 5:50am
As and IT manager at a public university who has to support IPads, ITouches and IPhones for faculty and staff I can think of one reason to choose a reader, any reader, over an IPad; they don't require you to install Apple's ITunes malware. These Apple products represent less than 10% of the equipment we are required to support and about 70% of our support hours almost all related to ITunes problems. Some have been quite expensive to resolve like the need to replace webcams name brand, high end webcams used for web conferencing because of compatibility issues with ITunes. The problems with ITunes have become so pervasive and time consuming and work that I won't even allow the program on my home computers anymore and when friends and family ask for equipment recommendations I tell them first off that I will not support any Apple products in my personal time.
gamesbook
January 28, 2010 at 12:41am
Here you say "iBooks supports the open ePub format, unlike Amazon’s Kindle which uses a proprietary format. iBooks supports the open ePub format, unlike Amazon’s Kindle which uses a proprietary format."
And yet here you say "But other e-book readers use the same ePub format, so that doesn’t give Apple a big edge." As most of your article compares iPad to the established Kindle, that sentence is misleading. Many people do want open formats to prevent themselves being locked-in to a device that may be superseded in future - whether its the iPad or something else. Open format is an edge.
fdp
January 27, 2010 at 4:11pm
So, you're betting against Steve? Hmm. Good luck with that.
You could have saved yourself some time and just reprinted the objections of people who didn't get the iPod and the iPhone and the iMac.
unheardthreat
January 27, 2010 at 2:49pm
Lets not forget that if you want a larger screen, Amazons Kindle DX is still about $500. So if we wan't to compare real estate, the iPad offers A LOT more at the same price-point over the Kindle DX. I was actually thinking about purchasing the DX if they announced the iPad was the believed $1000, but for the same price? APPLE FTW
jimmyhudson
January 27, 2010 at 2:03pm
If you are banking on those 6 million new people to buy a reading device this year, why would I spend $259 on a device that only reads books. Why not spend $499 and get it all? Im with the iPad.
