In Response To… the iPad

Posted on March 11, 2010 in Uncategorized

The recent launch of Apple’s much hallowed iPad has once again opened the debate on the publishing industry’s hesitant relationship with digital media. In the age of the Kindle and the Sony e-reader, why is it the iPad that has caused such anticipation in the publishing industry? Can the iPad really revolutionise the way we consume books and have the same effect on the book industry that the iPod did on the music one? Is the level of anticipation around it really justified, especially when Apple have entered the digital book market relatively late in the game?

The Sony PRS-500 Reader was one of the first to appear (their most recent is the PRS-505). This introduced the revolutionary electronic ink display system; tackling one of the main problems with electronic readers – the ‘unnatural’ reading experience caused by the backlight and flickering of a computer screen. With a sleek and attractive design the Sony e-reader was perhaps the first device that made people viably consider e-readers as something that could realistically replace, or compete with, the physical book. There were initial flaws in its make-up; these were along the lines of inadequate battery life and not being able to immediately download titles etc. Another major problem, (inevitable this early on in the development of digital reading perhaps) was the lack of titles available for consumption in the digital format.

After this came Amazon’s Kindle, the first one debuting in 2007. The Kindle improved upon the Sony e-reader and ironed out many of the problems. With this device, battery life had vastly improved; there was the opportunity to download books on-the-go; and also the ability to store a larger amount of data. The main development though was the provision of content. Users are able to download content from the Amazon Kindle store which can be accessed via the Kindle itself, or through a computer. At the moment there are over 300,000 titles available at the Kindle Store and there is also the opportunity to use the device to read titles from other sources such as Project Gutenberg.

With the success of the iPod/iPhone and the content distribution machine that is iTunes, it was seen by some to be only a matter of time before Apple got in on the game. They had already dipped their toes in the water by giving people the option to use their iPhone or iTouch as an e-reader, of sorts. Personally, I find that the two inch wide screen on the iPhone makes for far too distracting a reading experience. Having said that, there are many people that do use the iPhone as such. The large amount of customers that already have an iPhone means that an e-reader is already in the hands of millions of people who would not otherwise have considered purchasing one. And this is why the iPad is anticipated to have such an effect. It is not that the device is that revolutionary as an e-reader. It’s not. Compared to the Kindle and Sony e-reader, Apple has not really offered us much new. To be honest I was a little shocked that there were not more additions along the lines of being able to link videos into books etc (although there will no doubt be the development of thousand of apps to do such things). Moreover, they do not use e-ink so it may even make for a less comfortable reading experience than its predecessors.

However, as with any Apple device there comes mass appeal to the general public. The iPad is an e-reader but that is by no means its main offering and attraction. The majority of people buying it will be using it as a portable laptop and the ability to use it as an e-reader will probably not be most users’ main reason for buying it. At the moment it is only the customer that is really committed to the concept of reading on an e-reader that is prepared to fork out for a Kindle or Sony Reader.

Furthermore, Apple has the distribution of content side sorted already – they have already mentioned that there is an iBookstore in the pipeline. Add to this the fact that they already have millions of customer’s bank details on their system, and the iPad’s prospects as an e-reader becomes a very attractive prospect for publishers. The whole concept of reading books digitally is still a relatively foreign concept for the average customer and there can be no doubt that a company with a mass appeal like Apple will make it an attractive and easy concept for even the most reluctant customer to swallow.

This presumption that Apple will revolutionise digital reading is in some part fuelled by the fact they have already been responsible for such a change in the music industry with the introduction of the iPod. Comparisons between the music industry and the book industry have always been made throughout the advent of the ‘digital-age’. However, we need to consider the ways in which books and music differ. The issue with music is that it has always required a separate technological device in order to consume, and enjoy it. Throughout time the music industry has seen many devices that have brought about change in the industry, from the record player through to the iPod. A book, though, is an entity in itself that needs no other device in order to enjoy it. The book publishing industry has long been on the end of accusations that it has been painfully slow to embrace digital change, especially when compared to the music industry. In fairness though, the book industry is still only just coming to terms with the idea that a separate device is needed for the consumption of books in the first place. Certainly, there are a lot of arguments (mostly based on the concept of convenience) in defence of the book industry ushering in digital change but it has never been a necessity in order to enjoy the product.

While it still remains to be seen if customers will ever truly embrace e-readers over the printed book, there can be no doubt at this stage that digital books are certainly going to dominate an increasing percentage of the book market in years to come. Obviously, in order to do this a device is needed that has mass appeal, that is affordable and that is capable of accessing as many published works as cheaply as possible. In short, an attractive, easy-to-use and multi-purpose device – this is exactly what the iPad is. The iPad is nothing that revolutionary in terms of technology but it seems highly likely that it will be the device needed to give the reading public the final push into the digital age.