Why Ereader Companies Shouldn't be Worried

[HansTWN]

deleted

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

You forgot that Itunes' regional restrictions are MUCH WORSE than Amazon's. You cannot buy anything on US Itunes if you are not an American resident and the same thing in Itunes elsewhere costs 50% more. And don't think for a minute that books that are not available for your country on Amazon will be on Itunes! And the Kindle can display other languages, just use PDF.

Of course, the iPad will also be more expensive in your country than in the US. And buy the same ratio as the Kindle. So that 599 USD iPad (forget the 499.- 16GB version, that is a marketing gimmick, not a real option) will be USD 900 for you including all charges.

Why do people keep saying the 16Gb is not an option?

16Gb will get me a series of TV say 30 rock at 3GB all my favourite individual songs - 2GB, 4 or 5 films 6GB, Apps 500Mb photos of latest trip to show family 1GB.. and i have plenty to spare for more fimls or music etc.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Why do people keep saying the 16Gb is not an option?

16Gb will get me a series of TV say 30 rock at 3GB all my favourite individual songs - 2GB, 4 or 5 films 6GB, Apps 500Mb photos of latest trip to show family 1GB.. and i have plenty to spare for more fimls or music etc.

The $499 16G non-3G version is going to be a huge seller, imho.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

I am only going to mention the Kindle and the iPad, since those are the only 2 readers so far, that will truly be 'international'.

I guess you missed the part in the announcement when they said the iBookstore would be US-only, eh?

[amjbrown]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

I guess you missed the part in the announcement when they said the iBookstore would be US-only, eh?

And I guessed you missed the "at launch" bit.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by amjbrown

And I guessed you missed the "at launch" bit.

Not at all, but since the OP was talking about the 'simultaneous worldwide release', I thought I'd point out that the bookstore ain't going to be part of that. Someday? Hopefully, sure. Launch day? Nope.

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

You forgot that Itunes' regional restrictions are MUCH WORSE than Amazon's. You cannot buy anything on US Itunes if you are not an American resident and the same thing in Itunes elsewhere costs 50% more. And don't think for a minute that books that are not available for your country on Amazon will be on Itunes! And the Kindle can display other languages, just use PDF.

Of course, the iPad will also be more expensive in your country than in the US. And buy the same ratio as the Kindle. So that 599 USD iPad (forget the 499.- 16GB version, that is a marketing gimmick, not a real option) will be USD 900 for you including all charges.

I just thought I'd mention that Japan is not MY country, I just happen to live here .

I don't believe that the iPad will be more expensive here? Why should it? I will not be ordering from overseas and paying inflated shipping costs, insurance and import tax. It will be sold locally, just like all my iPods and iPhones. If I have a problem with my iPad, I will just go online to Apple Japan. It will be picked it up from my home within 24 hours, and returned, repaired or replaced (by hand currier again) within another 48 hours. Yes... THIS is Japan....

iBooks may not be available on launch worldwide, but I'm very confident that won't be for long. Kindle/Amazon ebooks took about 4-5 years (I forgot the exact amount of time) to go international.... I really don't think that will be the case here. The other thing is, that I don't actually buy any music from iTunes, although I have hundreds of music albums and audiobooks in my iTunes. I have only bought about about 6 or 7 songs from the iTunes store in the 6 years since I got my first iPod! I often surf through the iTunes store though, and listen to samples of songs.... there seem to be millions... so I'm not sure what could be missing from iTunes Japan - maybe a teenager will find some things missing. Maybe it's just because I'm not into the Lady Gaga type of trash, (sorry, just my opinion) that I don't know what is missing.
Since I got my iPhone, I (and other family members) have bought quite a few Apps, but most are free.
If I can't import my books to iBooks and use the cool bookshelf, like one can do with your own music, using cool coverflow etc. it will be disappointing... but I'll get over it. I will just use the other methods of reading my books, ie. using Stanza and other Apps.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

I just thought I'd mention that Japan is not MY country, I just happen to live here .

I don't believe that the iPad will be more expensive here? Why should it? I will not be ordering from overseas and paying inflated shipping costs, insurance and import tax. It will be sold locally, just like all my iPods and iPhones. If I have a problem with my iPad, I will just go online to Apple Japan. It will be picked it up from my home within 24 hours, and returned, repaired or replaced (by hand currier again) within another 48 hours. Yes... THIS is Japan....

iBooks may not be available on launch worldwide, but I'm very confident that won't be for long. Kindle/Amazon ebooks took about 4-5 years (I forgot the exact amount of time) to go international.... I really don't think that will be the case here. The other thing is, that I don't actually buy any music from iTunes, although I have hundreds of music albums and audiobooks in my iTunes. I have only bought about about 6 or 7 songs from the iTunes store in the 6 years since I got my first iPod! I often surf through the iTunes store though, and listen to samples of songs.... there seem to be millions... so I'm not sure what could be missing from iTunes Japan - maybe a teenager will find some things missing. Maybe it's just because I'm not into the Lady Gaga type of trash, (sorry, just my opinion) that I don't know what is missing.
Since I got my iPhone, I (and other family members) have bought quite a few Apps, but most are free.
If I can't import my books to iBooks and use the cool bookshelf, like one can do with your own music, using cool coverflow etc. it will be disappointing... but I'll get over it. I will just use the other methods of reading my books, ie. using Stanza and other Apps.

Tim Cook said in the last earnings call that the iPhone was HUGE in Japan now-400% growth?

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by kjk

Tim Cook said in the last earnings call that the iPhone was HUGE in Japan now-400% growth?

It's HUGE! It took quite a while to take off, since Japanese cell phones can do so much already, but now... it's huge! The iPad will be too. It was on the evening news the other night, and they compared it side by side with the Kindle 2 - it wasn't a favorable comparison IMHO...
All my friends here want one.

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

I guess you missed the part in the announcement when they said the iBookstore would be US-only, eh?

Nope...

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

A friend of mine in Hollywood refuses to take his MacBook outside his home, or sit in a Starbucks. He doesn't want to be associated with "those" people.

Think of every airhead, concerned with flash over substance, stereotype you can think of in Hollywood. For better or worse, that's also the Apple stereotype.

Sounds like high school to me. Junior high school, maybe.

But there is a more serious issue - crime. I plan to be very discrete and cautious with my Pad when it's out of the house. I don't want it to disappear.

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Sounds like high school to me. Junior high school, maybe.

But there is a more serious issue - crime. I plan to be very discrete and cautious with my Pad when it's out of the house. I don't want it to disappear.

That is one of the few things I absolutely LOVE about Japan - the safety and honesty. I can leave my car outside with the motor running, windows open, LV handbag on the seat, iPhone and designer sunglasses on the dash, and come back hours later and car and all it's contents will still be there! No kidding!

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

However, unless I were trying to read technical publications requiring "full size page" viewing, it would not see much use in the way of ereading.

If you confine the definition of "ereading" to books, your point has some force. The primary argument against it would be that the Pad will most likely allow the owner to avoid file format & DRM problems because the various apps will allow him or her to get an ebook from any provider. But the cost factor, compared to the smaller ereaders, will still be in play.

But if you read more than books - if you read newspapers, magazines, blogs, articles of all sorts - then the Pad as an ereader makes much more sense.

Personally, I think the majority of folks buying an iPad will be folks who wouldn't have purchased a dedicated ereader (and will have purchased it -- the iPad -- for other reasons), anyway, and will get into ereading because Apple will be pushing (hyping) the ability.

I share that opinion, up to the point where you add the bit about "will have purchased it ...for other reasons." Had the Pad been available this time last year when I first acquired a dedicated ereader, I would have had the Pad. To read books on.

I think a lot of people who own dedicated ereaders right now are going to move to the Pad, thinking that they are going to continue to use the ereaders. But gradually, they'll find that more & more of their reading is done on the Pad. The Kindle readers will be most likely to use both, because of the sync factor.

Eventually, those who would have gotten into ereading to replace paperbacks sometime in the future will realize the limitations of the iPad for ereading and will end up buying an e-inker, or whatever unforseen technology that may replace it in the next 10 years, anyway.

I think that they will buy an iphone or a Touch rather than a dedicated ereader - assuming that they buy anything. This is because one can duplicate the reading environment - apps, books - on the Touch, which becomes a kind of stripped down satellite version of the Pad.

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Had the Pad been available this time last year when I first acquired a dedicated ereader, I would have had the Pad. To read books on.

Me too, without the slightest doubt, and I strongly suspect thousands of other people too!
I don't regret my PRS -700 now though, because after I got it I KNEW I wanted something way way better. I was also forced to learn a lot about different file types, DRM etc. which was probably good for me.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by Harmon

The primary argument against it would be that the Pad will most likely allow the owner to avoid file format & DRM problems because the various apps will allow him or her to get an ebook from any provider.

We'll see. It would be a plus if Apple, in a most un-Apple-like move, allowed this, I agree. You can already avoid these problems, of course, but it's probably slightly easier for the less-technically-inclined to find the relevant app via the app store than to find calibre and disinfection tools.

But the cost factor, compared to the smaller ereaders, will still be in play.

Also form factor, for me at least. 10" (for my taste) is 'portable', in the sense that a laptop is portable - it's something I carry around and hold in both hands. 6" is right at the large end of 'mobile' - something I can stick in a pocket or bag and use one-handed. I routinely read my on my Kindle on the bus to work, I can't really imagine doing the same thing with a 10" tablet.

In a reading analogy, one's a paperback, one's a hardcover. I can read both, but one's much more likely to travel with me anywhere I go and be read when I have a moment to spare.