Judging from what we have seen so far, Apple's new iPad will be a great device for reading e-books.
he iPad will obviously come with Apple's own e-reader software - but that's only half the story. Users will also be able to read their Kindle and B&N e-book purchases on Apple's new device. After all, nobody is going to stop Amazon, B&N and any of the independent e-book publishers from creating their own applications. That is, of course, unless Apple decides that these apps now "duplicate" a core feature of its own apps and decides to ban all other e-reader apps from the devices.
We have to admit, though, that this seems like a highly unlikely scenario. Apple surely doesn't want to get caught up in another Google Voice-like brawl.
It's all About the Apps
The iPad has the potential to kill off the Kindle and other e-readers - though some will always prefer e-paper displays over the iPad's backlit display.
For
Amazon, the discussion between proponents of e-paper displays and those
who prefer the flexibility of Apple's color touchscreen is almost
irrelevant, however. After all, the Kindle software is already
available on multiple platforms - including the iPhone - and while Jeff
Bezos would surely like to see the Kindle become the dominant player in
this market, Amazon's core business is selling books and not selling
it's own hardware devices.
B&N and every other player in the e-book business will surely develop their own applications as well and for almost everybody in this business but Sony, creating hardware is more of a distraction than a core competency.
As far as we know, Apple plans to sell most e-books in the iBook store for around $14.99. That's more expensive than books in the Kindle store or the B&N e-book store, but it's still significantly lower than the price of a hardcover book. Unlike Amazon, Apple also won't have to subsidize the prize of the books. If anything, Apple's pricing strategy might just give Amazon an excuse to bring its prices up to a point where it doesn't lose money on every sale.
Source: Frederic Lardinos, ReadWriteWeb
Comments |  RSS |
|
You painted this theme with cool colors. Great article!