Originally Posted by fjtorres
I respect your position, but consider the case of a total non-techie that buys an iPad:
They take the iPad home and start looking for apps to install.
"Hey! ebook readers! Lets try them out!"
"Kobo reader."
One install later.
"Okay. How's this thing work? I don't see any books? It says 'Sign in', but there's no way to create an account. Doesn't say where to get an account either. Or what the account offers."
"Useless."
"Let me try Kindle, I hear a lot of people have Kindles..."
"Same thing... Stupidd apps are only good if you *already* have an account..."
Should I continue?
Remember the post from the Kobo dev in the other thread?
How you can't create accounts from the app?
How Apple kept bouncing the Kobo app for even *mentioning* their web site?
Sure, if you're technically literate or already a customer of Kobo/Nook/Amazon, etc, the change is just a matter of running to the browser.
But, let's not kid ourselves, Apple's customer base includes a ton of non-techies who don't have pre-existing accounts or know where to get one.
For those people there is iBooks, which "just works" and the rest, none of which works without jumping through hoops. (Who's going to be happy with an app you have to call user support to find out where to set-up an account?)
Apple's objective is to make iBooks more competive and this move will undoubtedly assure that it offers the "best experience" of any *allowed* app.
Now, I'm not going to argue with you, of all people, but to me, making the platform more hostile to users of competing apps and preventing the apps from even *mentioning* their web sites is a reduction in "open-ness".
It certainly closes one communication channel between the app vendor and the iPad user and probably raises their support costs.
And it raises the bariers to entry to new ebook vendors/apps. Kindle is a household name; Nook and Kobo less so. But any other would-be players? How will they even *tell* app users they *have* an ebook store?
It's not about us, really; we're familiar with the business and hear about every new aspiring player. But the typical iPad newbie? They'll sing the praises of iBooks!
Peace!
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