Quote:
Originally Posted by LDBoblo
Outside of the tablet or the ebook reader niches, I can't think of a reason why the average person would give a hoot about the markets of either.
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I think the Tablet niche is pretty large. I know more people with iPads than e-readers already, and know a bunch of people who want an iPad or other tablet but are waiting for second gen models. And Apple just announced that they sold their 3 millionth iPad in just 80 days.
The reasons people want them are varied. A lot is for reading large format documents (PDFs of research articles, Word documents etc) since most of my circle of friends/acquaintances are fellow professors and friends from grad school etc.
People want them to replace laptops as they do all their work on desktops and only use the laptop for web browsing and checking e-mail on trips etc.
I'm kind of falling in that bag currently. I only have my work laptop as I gave my home desktop (it was old and glitchy) away when I moved. I find it hard to do work at home with just a laptop. And I don't really like browsing the web on it much either. So eventually I may go back to having a desktop and getting a tablet to replace.
And finally, others just want an iPad after playing around with one as it's the current cool toy--and it is good at what it does. It's great for surfing the net (sans Flash of course), watching streaming video, reading news, reading magazines, reading comics, reading novels, ok for PDFs but needs bigger screen etc. etc.
So I don't think tablets will be a niche device, they're going to have pretty solid mainstream success. But I also think the dedicated reader niche will survive, so I find these threads and the article that prompted it silly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charleski
The iPad is simply too big and too heavy to be comfortable for reading fiction, though it would be suitable for reading documents that need a larger display surface if its resolution were higher. Basic physical attributes trump gee-whizz featuritis.
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I find the weight fine. I read hardcover books with them resting on my lap if sitting up and chest if laying down. I do the same with my Kindle and I do the same with my girlfriend's iPad and the weight doesn't bother me at all. A bout the same as a big hardcover, and easier to manage since it's not so thick and I don't have to hold pages in place.
Resolution is fine to me as well--the gray backgrounds on e-ink washout the benefit of the higher resolution for me--especially since I tend to read in pretty dim light with just one lamp on etc.
I like my Kindle because it's small and light, but I could easily get by doing all my fiction reading on a tablet like the iPad. But I'm also an oddball for this site as I'm not much of a reader. Most of my reading is online--forum posts, blogs, news articles etc. Second most is reading for work--which is my least favorite part of being a professor--tons of boring crap to read. Third is leisure reading which is usually just 30 minutes before sleeping a few nights a week, or during flights etc. Reading is definitely at the bottom of my hobby list and is the first to get dropped on a busy day.