08-08-2010, 06:45 AM | #16 |
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A friend of mine with an ipad made the point that many ipad owners will have downloaded ibooks and bought something to try out the process - thereby inflating the initial figures. Also, it isn't clear whether free books are included in the "purchases". When Jobs quotes 5 billion downloads from the app store, I think that this includes both free apps and updates to existing apps; my point is that they, like most businesses, like quoting big numbers, but such statistics need treating with care.
In the long term, I'm sure that it's right that once screen and battery technology allow a general purpose tablet computer to work in sunlight, not get hot, last for weeks off one charge, etc. - and be reasonably cheap, then the purpose-built reader will not have a place any longer. The notion ink adam already looks like a step in this direction. |
08-08-2010, 07:25 AM | #17 | |
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08-08-2010, 07:38 AM | #18 |
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The NYT publishing an article promoting Apple? Get outta town.
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08-08-2010, 07:44 AM | #19 | |
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He lost me right at the start:
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Riiiight. Just like Porsches *have* to outsell Civics to survive. |
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08-08-2010, 08:09 AM | #20 | |
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08-08-2010, 08:10 AM | #21 |
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Welcome savethebutterfly to mobileread .... |
08-08-2010, 09:57 AM | #22 |
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An analogy of Kindle vs. Ipad can be made is dedicated GPS devices vs. smart phones. I believe the current state of GPS is the future state of dedicated reading device.
Another analogy is dedicated scanners vs. multifunction machines. For a minority of people, a dedicated device is preferred. But for the majority of people, a multi-function device is suffice. Amazon's kindle hardware afters the minority while Apple' Ipad afters the mass. Amazon can not rely on the minorities to keep updating their devices as their business model because there would be no growth. As technology advances, the gap between dedicated devices and multi-function devices will shrink. We don't know what kind of screen technology Apple will bring to the Ipad in the next few years. It could be a retina/paper/book display. If it is close to or surpass e-ink, the game is over. I Think the author's view is correct. Last edited by ppw; 08-08-2010 at 10:00 AM. |
08-08-2010, 10:05 AM | #23 | |
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08-08-2010, 10:07 AM | #24 |
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The strongest point of the article is a subtle one: Why is Amazon so friggin obscure about its sales figures?
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08-08-2010, 11:06 AM | #25 | |
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To paraphrase: why are the "friggin" numbers so important? Amazon has achieved one important thing: they've made ebooks mainstream. There's no going back on that. The rest...? (shrug) Why should we care what one big corporation does to another? Do they offer an acceptable product at an acceptable price? Do they support it and sustain it? Then, who cares if they sell 3 million or 5 million? Really, what difference does it make to *us*? |
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08-08-2010, 11:22 AM | #26 | |
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08-08-2010, 11:23 AM | #27 |
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08-08-2010, 11:25 AM | #28 |
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08-08-2010, 11:30 AM | #29 |
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08-08-2010, 11:39 AM | #30 |
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And you really shouldn't. Ever.
You literally don't know what's in the thing; their formula is the biggest secret in business. Everybody has their own philosophy. Coca-cola, like Amazon, doesn't believe in helping their competitors. Let *them* figure out how to make money selling sweet colored water on their own. If they can. Lots of companies rely on Trade Secrets to protect their business. Others don't even believe in IP. Fortunately, there's room for all kinds. |
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