Last week Apple came out with its newest innovation, the ipad. As many of the Apple creations before it, Steve Jobs came out on stage to reveal its name and design to the waiting public. While much of the ipad just looked like a large ipod touch, it did have several features that the ipod touch does not. One of the most hailed feature on the ipad is the creation of ibooks. Steve Jobs wanted to show how simple and easy this was so he sat back in a chair and showed the specs of the new ibooks. One of the features was that the ipad displayed a digital book shelf with all your titles displayed on it. This book shelf is connected directly to the istore so you could buy and read any book instantly.
This new Apple gadget got many different reactions because of their new ibook feature. Companies like Amazon and Barnes & Nobles are worried about this new innovation because it is cutting in on a market that they had pioneered. With Amazon's electronic reader called the Kindle and Barnes&Nobles Nook the ipad are trying to challenge these in this new found market. The publishers, on the other hand, are excited about this new gadget. They know that Apple has a cult like following and millions will buy the ipad with the ibooks feature. So will this new toy improve book sales? Christine Kearney in this article http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60R0GS20100128?type=technologyNews argues that the new ipad will not significantly add to book sales. She says that the Apple following and the new ascetically pleasing layout is not enough to start a book revolution. One reason is that the ipad is still back lit and will be hard on your eyes after reading for a long time. While the publishers hope the ipad will transform books like the ipod transformed music Christine Kearney is doubtful this will happen
I completely agree with Christine Kearney on this. Not only is the ipad not designed to be a reader because of the bad back lighting but we are in a culture that does not read any more. Most of you will not even read this sentence because you got distracted by facebook. People would rather watch a minute long youtube video than read a book. Even with the new Apple ibook the sales of books will not jump as much as the publishers think they will.
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What exactly is the difference between other e-book gadgets and iBooks? If they think it's going to transform reading, there must be something "revolutionary" (or is it just the size and shape of the ipad?).
ReplyDeleteYou and Kearney may be right, but in your agreement with her, you make some problematic statements. The one that stands out the most is "we are in a culture that does not read any more." Americans bought just under $25 billion worth of books in 2008, and although I guess that doesn't technically prove that we still read books, it's an indicator that books aren't dead yet.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, although the point about back-lighting is good, and I think this is one area where the Kindle was revolutionary and very mindful of the practicalities of book reading, I've read several whole books on the tiny, back-lit screen of my iPhone, so I can only imagine that reading on the iPad would be an improvement!