Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
For me (sorry, Harry -- but surely a forum is about personal views -- the iPad is actually a step backwards for ebook reading, taking the onus off ebooks and offering a dozen distrations ... at a price.
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This is interesting. The iPhone has exploded onto the mobile phone market precisely
because it offers a million different uses - not just telephone and SMS (which itself was an unexpected additional function that has ballooned far beyond anyone's predictions). It's an electronic Swiss Army Knife, and that's why people want it.
I think today that convenience is so highly prized that having one device that can do multiple things is what sells. Even to the point where people are willing to accept inferior functionalities (in comparison to a single-purpose dedicated device, say) - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
Give the world something like the 505 -- even the Kindle -- bubble-wrapped at the supermarket checkout for sixty bucks, price ebooks fairly, and there will be an explosion in reading.
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I don't disagree with this in principle, but I think it also needs the kind of marketing that Apple splurged on its iPod and iPhone to truly kickstart the revolution...and I'm not convinced that a Sony or an Amazon would have the brand cachet to get people interested enough.
Apple's branding is great - they have positioned themselves as "cool" and "alternative" and "innovative", and as such their new products are bought by people who consider themselves to be "cool" and "alternative" and "innovative" (and whose friends probably see them this way), and these people act as word-of-mouth advertisers for the products, adding to the image.
Amazon or Sony selling ebook readers: "oh". Apple selling ebook readers: exciting.
Besides, if Apple dominates the market then at least one of its competitors will adopt a price-leading position...meaning that your dream of a $60 reader will come true.
