This does more than just let you read books. With its built-in wireless networking, your newspapers and magazines are delivered electronically as they're available (think: if you commute via public transport, your reading material is always fresh). It also supports RSS feeds, so various online news sites (including AppleInsider) are available.
If they got the price down to $200-250, I'd almost certainly snap one up. I've got the eReader application for my iPhone, and love it, but find the small screen just a little bit too small for comfortable reading.
I'm with you. I love my iPod touch, but for anyone over 30 or with fading eyesight, reading on the touch without high-powered reading glasses is a near impossibility.
To be clear, the iPhone has every feature but one that would make it the best e-reader out there: digital ink (eInk).
WHAT????
Name 1 single area that the iphone is a better e-book reader than the Kindle. Your saying the iphone is better in every single area, and I'm challenging you to name one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macshark
Unless Amazon can bring the price down to $199, they are not going to sell more than a million units over the next two years.
At $299, they would easily sell over a million in 2 years, possibly double that. If there is significant adoption by the medical and educational industries its will be 10x that.
No touch screen?!? Seems like such an obvious way to go. Turn pages with a finger swipe (or multi-finger swipe)... etc. E-paper is cool... but I won't buy one of these until it has an intuitive touch interface.
Those 2 big buttons right next to the screen aren't intuitive enough?
I don't think the expense of a touch screen is worth adding to a e-reader, unless significant other features were also added along with the touch screen.
Name 1 single area that the iphone is a better e-book reader than the Kindle. Your saying the iphone is better in every single area, and I'm challenging you to name one.
I bought a book from webscription via bookshelf in a format that isn't locked just to the iphone.
I have a bunch of free baen books on my iPhone not in some unreadable kindle format.
I can transfer those books to a Sony or illiad...
Amazon screwed the ebook market IMHO.
Quote:
At $299, they would easily sell over a million in 2 years, possibly double that. If there is significant adoption by the medical and educational industries its will be 10x that.
Have fun accessing the books you bought on any other device.
What amazes me is the continuous emphasis on ugliness. You think that with a single simple function they would spend more time to maybe think at the aesthetics as well. But no.. they intensionally making it ugly instead.
For Amazon to give credence to Job's admonition that the product is destined to fail because "people don't read anymore", Amazon would have to close down their bookstore.
Obviously, people still read - that's not Jobs' point. Enough people buy books to fuel a market where people buy $5, $10, $20 books (more for textbooks, manuals, etc.). It's another thing to say that people will spend ___ hundred dollars on a READER device with no content of its own.
I read all the time - news magazines, newspapers, Wired, a textbook or non-fictional piece here and there...I'm not really into novels. This device absolutely does not appeal to me. I'm thinking that Jobs is simply saying that there are too many people like me, and not enough people willing to spend $200, $300 on what is essentially a document reader with some bells and whistles.
I say, give the technology 5-10 years. By then, maybe we'll be downloading our magazines, newspapers, and books onto something thinner/more flexible, and a few times cheaper.
I am an avid Kindle user. Let me share a little of why this is a great format for me.
1. I always have multiple books going at one time, and I love the convenience of having them all with me in my bag. I've been able to cut down considerable on the size of bag I carry. 1 Kindle takes much less space than 3-5 book.
2. I am a writer and public speaker and am often reading for research. The Kindle has allowed me to cut the cost of my research with lower cost e-books. Many of these are books that I want to keep around for future reference, but will probably not read through more than once. An e-version is perfect for that. One added benefit of the Kindle for a researcher is its universal search. I can enter a phrase or key word and immediately see passages pop up with the search string from across the entire library in my kindle. My own notations in the books are also universally searchable. It's very cool to be able to find that perfect quote in a few seconds anytime or anywhere.
3. I still buy books in physical form if they are ones I want to keep on my shelf, and I still by books to give away - but there a lot of books I buy that I want to read, but that I don't need for either of those reasons. I buy 2-3 kindle books a month, and probably 1 physical book, on average.
4. As for other formats - I can certainly read ebooks on my iPhone or on my computer. But it's nice to be able to instantly have the book available without any boot time - and at least for me, reading long-term on the iPhone screen is not comfortable. The e-paper screen of the kindle has been very comfortable on my eyes.
5. Ther EVDO download is really great. My family and I just had a trip over the weekend driving to a speaking gig of mine. While we were driving in the middle of nowhere on I-84 (no WiFi, very poor edge reception) my wife decided she's like to read something new. She logged onto the Kindle store, found a fantasy novel that intrigued her and downloaded the sample. 50 miles later she downloaded the rest of the book, and by the time we were home three days later she'd read the whole thing - and all for $6. That seems like a great thing to me.
I can say for sure that the Kindle 1 didn't get everything right. The industrial design is a little klunky. But I love the concept and am really excited to watch it develop. I am looking forward to seeing how Kindle 2 turns out.
Comments
This does more than just let you read books. With its built-in wireless networking, your newspapers and magazines are delivered electronically as they're available (think: if you commute via public transport, your reading material is always fresh). It also supports RSS feeds, so various online news sites (including AppleInsider) are available.
If they got the price down to $200-250, I'd almost certainly snap one up. I've got the eReader application for my iPhone, and love it, but find the small screen just a little bit too small for comfortable reading.
I'm with you. I love my iPod touch, but for anyone over 30 or with fading eyesight, reading on the touch without high-powered reading glasses is a near impossibility.
The biggest problem in my not so humble opinion is the lack of PDF compatibility.
Thats a deal breaker for me.
Also Apple has the infrastructure to immediately be able to compete with Kindle.
Apple just needs to create a PDFcasting directory.
PDFcasting is like podcasting but with PDFs instead of audio.
This would create a wealth of mostly FREE content that can be used to sell more hardware.
Great idea, cheesy!
To be clear, the iPhone has every feature but one that would make it the best e-reader out there: digital ink (eInk).
WHAT????
Name 1 single area that the iphone is a better e-book reader than the Kindle. Your saying the iphone is better in every single area, and I'm challenging you to name one.
Unless Amazon can bring the price down to $199, they are not going to sell more than a million units over the next two years.
At $299, they would easily sell over a million in 2 years, possibly double that. If there is significant adoption by the medical and educational industries its will be 10x that.
No touch screen?!? Seems like such an obvious way to go. Turn pages with a finger swipe (or multi-finger swipe)... etc. E-paper is cool... but I won't buy one of these until it has an intuitive touch interface.
Those 2 big buttons right next to the screen aren't intuitive enough?
I don't think the expense of a touch screen is worth adding to a e-reader, unless significant other features were also added along with the touch screen.
WHAT????
Name 1 single area that the iphone is a better e-book reader than the Kindle. Your saying the iphone is better in every single area, and I'm challenging you to name one.
I bought a book from webscription via bookshelf in a format that isn't locked just to the iphone.
I have a bunch of free baen books on my iPhone not in some unreadable kindle format.
I can transfer those books to a Sony or illiad...
Amazon screwed the ebook market IMHO.
At $299, they would easily sell over a million in 2 years, possibly double that. If there is significant adoption by the medical and educational industries its will be 10x that.
Have fun accessing the books you bought on any other device.
Students - study mtrl - must be a way to make notes in the book
Average Joe - news paper - perhaps with text to speech reading function
Youngsters - Harry Potter...
Chefs and cooking - cook books - with check list and sturdy design
Maybe with that screen/camera hybrid patent Apple as filed for it could actually function as a scanner. Easy to scan your notes, recipies,.. Etc.
I think there can be a healthy e-book sales model if one just thought it through..
Sadly I kind of fall into the category of people described by Jobs though..
For Amazon to give credence to Job's admonition that the product is destined to fail because "people don't read anymore", Amazon would have to close down their bookstore.
Obviously, people still read - that's not Jobs' point. Enough people buy books to fuel a market where people buy $5, $10, $20 books (more for textbooks, manuals, etc.). It's another thing to say that people will spend ___ hundred dollars on a READER device with no content of its own.
I read all the time - news magazines, newspapers, Wired, a textbook or non-fictional piece here and there...I'm not really into novels. This device absolutely does not appeal to me. I'm thinking that Jobs is simply saying that there are too many people like me, and not enough people willing to spend $200, $300 on what is essentially a document reader with some bells and whistles.
I say, give the technology 5-10 years. By then, maybe we'll be downloading our magazines, newspapers, and books onto something thinner/more flexible, and a few times cheaper.
So $359 for an e-reader plus $$ per e-book OR get a library card and as many free books as you could possibly ever read..... hmm
Yes, that is true, but there is also something to be said for being able to carry a virtual library worth of books in such a small package.
1. I always have multiple books going at one time, and I love the convenience of having them all with me in my bag. I've been able to cut down considerable on the size of bag I carry. 1 Kindle takes much less space than 3-5 book.
2. I am a writer and public speaker and am often reading for research. The Kindle has allowed me to cut the cost of my research with lower cost e-books. Many of these are books that I want to keep around for future reference, but will probably not read through more than once. An e-version is perfect for that. One added benefit of the Kindle for a researcher is its universal search. I can enter a phrase or key word and immediately see passages pop up with the search string from across the entire library in my kindle. My own notations in the books are also universally searchable. It's very cool to be able to find that perfect quote in a few seconds anytime or anywhere.
3. I still buy books in physical form if they are ones I want to keep on my shelf, and I still by books to give away - but there a lot of books I buy that I want to read, but that I don't need for either of those reasons. I buy 2-3 kindle books a month, and probably 1 physical book, on average.
4. As for other formats - I can certainly read ebooks on my iPhone or on my computer. But it's nice to be able to instantly have the book available without any boot time - and at least for me, reading long-term on the iPhone screen is not comfortable. The e-paper screen of the kindle has been very comfortable on my eyes.
5. Ther EVDO download is really great. My family and I just had a trip over the weekend driving to a speaking gig of mine. While we were driving in the middle of nowhere on I-84 (no WiFi, very poor edge reception) my wife decided she's like to read something new. She logged onto the Kindle store, found a fantasy novel that intrigued her and downloaded the sample. 50 miles later she downloaded the rest of the book, and by the time we were home three days later she'd read the whole thing - and all for $6. That seems like a great thing to me.
I can say for sure that the Kindle 1 didn't get everything right. The industrial design is a little klunky. But I love the concept and am really excited to watch it develop. I am looking forward to seeing how Kindle 2 turns out.