As I said this past fall in this space, "single-purpose e-book readers like the Kindle are dead, dead, dead. Wake up and smell the coffee." I pointed out that what would kill them would be the rumored tablet projects at Apple and Microsoft. In fact, I think it is Apple’s new iPad, announced today, that is the true Kindle killer. Go and watch the video about the iPad. I’ll wait.
So…to recap: for $260 you can get a device that reads books. In black-and-white only. For $499 you can get a full-color device that reads books, gets your email, surfs the web, plays movies and games, runs every application that your iPhone (if you have one) does, and much more. Plus, anyone who has ever used an iPhone already knows how to use this new device.
Apple has content deals with a number of major publishers, and will likely work as hard as it can to add more. If I were the Kindle product manager I would be looking for a new job.
About Roy Tennant
What’s the readability of the screen, though? That’s a huge issue. And the lack of flash support means that a lot of The InterTubes is going to be off-limits (I’m looking at you, youtube)
The iPhone has a YouTube app and the iPad will run all iPhone apps, so this is not a problem. However, sites like Hulu and anywhere else using flash may still be problematic.
I know it’s difficult to tell from pictures, but from what I can tell the readability of the screen is fully as good as the Kindle, and likely better. Also, since it’s full color any illustrations will be much nicer than any present e-book device.
“single-purpose e-book readers like the Kindle are dead, dead, dead. Wake up and smell the coffee.”
Well, that’s premature at least since virtually no one has had their hands on a iPad yet. I recently acquired a Kindle despite knowledge of the forthcoming tablet. I think there is a lot to be said for a single-purpose, long-form reading device. Absence of distraction is one advantage. Sometimes single-purpose works better, e.g., GPS for the car.
To make Flash support unnecessary for the iPhone, Apple twisted Google’s arm to support MP4-encoded video. This, by the way, is a good thing for everyone because it adds a big bulk of content that the HTML5
A backlit screen is just harder to read from for an extended period. I have a e-reader, a laptop (with a screen very similar to the iPad), and a iPhone, and for reading I wouldn’t go anywhere near the latter two. There’s a faairly nice app, Stanza, for the iPhone, but the backlight is a deal breaker for me.
Let’s not forget that the Kindle has free cellular access (subsidized) and the books are cheaper. This doesn’t mean the great looking iPad won’t kill off the Kindle, but I don’t think it’s a done deal. A $250 ebook reader with a great, single-purpose screen, cheaper content, and universal connectivity is still a strong device.
The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated.
I applaud Apple for not bowing down to scourge of the Internet – Flash. Hopefully HTML5 will make the overabundance of Flash mostly a thing of the past.
I have to agree with Nick. I want the eInk screen (or what it evolves into) – Kindle, Nook, etc. isn’t that important to me, but I don’t want another LCD to read books from – give me a single purpose device.
Fair enough…some of us clearly have different desires, and that’s OK. But what it will get down to is what the market is willing to support. Time will tell. I’m just laying my bet on the multi-purpose device, as I believe I’ve made clear for years. But I could easily be wrong, and it wouldn’t be the first, nor the last, time.
Because I’m not an early adopter, I haven’t signed on to any of these devices yet. Still, I’m likelier to buy a multi-purpose device, particularly at that price. But I still like print.
I’d happily agree that the Kindle is ‘dead, dead, dead’ but I haven’t yet been converted by the iPad.
Granted I’m hardly an expert on the gizmo but it doesn’t seem to be an open system — in the sense that a laptop or netbook would be.
I mean, I love Steve Jobs but I want the guy telling me what I can load on my totally awesome portable kindle-killer.
My apologies to Steve Jobs — the last line should read:
“I’d happily agree that the Kindle is ‘dead, dead, dead’ but I haven’t yet been converted by the iPad.
Granted I’m hardly an expert on the gizmo but it doesn’t seem to be an open system — in the sense that a laptop or netbook would be.
I mean, I love Steve Jobs but I _don’t_ want the guy telling me what I can load on my totally awesome portable kindle-killer.”
Personally I suspect there’s room in the world for both systems even though we might question the reasons for using the very one dimensional Kindle. But I’m ecstatic about the iPad and can’t wait to get my hands on one. Already I use the my iPhone to show interactive digital children’s picture books to my boy, and how brilliant will a bigger screen be for that! I say bring on the iPad and let younger kids enjoy their own version of e-books in the gorgeous colors they were intended to be seen in!
I predict, that whatever e-book platform that best accommodates the lending of material by libraries, will take over the market, as it will have instant exposure to millions of potential users. I think it is a given that technically most of the devices will be quite compatible. Unfortunately, the only one that is available in NZ is the KOBO, so I have not been able to handle them first hand.
PS Nice to see that Kindle has a sense of humour!
Philip