The IPad has arrived--or has it?

[B.R.Stateham]

Apple says it sold 300,000 IPads and downloaded 250,000 ebooks in its first day of business.  Sounds impressive.  Does this mean the end of the Kindle?  Did 250,000 people buy an ebook today?

 

Read this little article and tell me what you think.

 

 

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/why-apples-ipad-numb...

[Jessica]

Hell I've always hated the idea of eBooks anyway. I don't think the iPad will replace the Kindle because the Kindle is specifically for eBooks, whereas the iPad is meant to be a bigger version of the iPhone. This gives the Kindle an edge, because the Kindle isn't being compared to anything. It's also not trying to do too many things at once; which is what the iPad is guilty of. In the Aussie version of News.com they did a piece on the pros and cons of the iPad. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/yz5vxjt

[I. J. Parker]

The Kindle is much lighter and cheaper. Readers like those features. My feeling is that iPad will be in trouble and that it will soon be replaced with another version.

[Jon Loomis]

If you like your iTouch, you'll probably love the iPad. The iPad's e-reader interface looks absolutely gorgeous--very book like--so for me it would beat out the Kindle for that application; the Kindle seems cheap and plastic-y in comparison. The fact that you can also check your email, catch up on crimespace, listen to music, play games and watch movies on the iPad makes it a product I'd like to own: perfect for travel, and an excellent nightstand device. Want to read a book with the lights out while your lovely spouse snoozes? No problem. Want to do it with headphones on, while you listen to music? Still no problem. Want to watch a movie instead? Still no problem. I can see the iPad replacing my laptop for about 90% of my at-home and travel use. The only thing I wouldn't do is write a book on it--but I like to have a computer that's pretty much dedicated to writing, anyway.

That said, knowing how Apple typically operates, I'll wait for the iPad.02; my guess is that it'll be cheaper and have more features (like maybe a phone, or a vid-cam for skype).

[John McFetridge]

Whatever the effect on paper books or the Kindle, it seems a safe bet that the iPad is here to stay and iBooks will become as popular as iTunes. It may be mostly a completely new market. The iPad app for comic books is quite amazing.

Since Apple first started with third party apps for the iPhone and iPod they've handled it very well, so it's likely there won't be many changes to the hardware of the iPad, just software upgrades and more apps. Maybe the addition of a camera, but otherwise the tablet form is here to stay.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

That's the thing, Jon, you can't listen to music with headphones on while you read. It only runs one application at a time. So you either read or listen to music, but not both.

[John McFetridge]

No, it runs all the third party apps. It's just like my iPod, I can read a book on the Kindle app and listen to music at the same time (I don't, but that's just me, I don't multitask).

We're moving away from the whole concept of owning and saving media to a new model that's all about access to it. I'm not thrilled with that myself, but it has pros and cons.

in many ways the iPad really is just a big iPod, something that turned out to be far better and far more useful than I ever thought it would be and something I use a lot more than I thought I would. With he WiFi network in my house I don't need a usb port.

A lot of times, though, I find myself thinking, "If only the screen was bigger."

The iPad won't replace my laptop, but it'll replace my iPod. Already I use the iPod for far more than I ever thought I would.

But, you know, it's not for everyone.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I mean to say it only can do one thing at a time, regardless of where the app comes from. The iPad only allows one program to run at a time.

[I. J. Parker]

I see in today's PUBLISHER'S LUNCH that there are some unresolved issues of interest to authors dealing with Apple. Apple apparently will not deduct and remit sales taxes even though that traditionally falls to the retailer. They will only report sales and let that burden fall to the publisher or author if he/she went to them directly. For me that would be such a nightmare that I would simply refuse my titles to Apple.

[Stacy]

From what I've heard from folks who have gotten it, they don't like it. Some say it's the size and others say you can't get half as many ebooks on there because it's only a few publishers who've participated. I think the idea of color photos for ebooks are great but I'll wait until another Sony reader comes out with colors or something because I definitely don't want an ipad. I don't need another thing to be a computer and I already got an ereader. Who wants an ereader that big? The purpose of an ereader is it's light and easy to carry. That's what folks like about them. With this thing you might as well be carrying your laptop everywhere.

It doesn't impress me. Things should get smaller if they want to compete with ereaders, not bigger. How can it be comfortable holding that thing up?

I'll stick with my Sony ereader and if Sony comes out with color, I might upgrade but color isn't important to me. Plus I'm not one of those folks who needs an ereader that does everything. That's what I got a computer for.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Pepper Smith]

It's not primarily an ereader, and most people probably won't use it as one. If it was meant just to be an ereader, yeah, it's probably too big. But it's meant for a lot of other things, with reading books just one of the possibilities. So I guess it depends on what you want--some people are looking at it as a replacement for their laptops.

Shrug. I'm not likely to buy one simply because I just got a new laptop and can't afford to spend the money on one. But I also can't afford to spend the money on a dedicated ereader. I read on my laptop.

[Jessica]

If they want to replace the laptops then they would probably find the keyboard to be a pain in the arse - it's just like the iPhone. That is; one bloody letter at a time. Hardly the timesaver it's meant to be. It's recommended that the iPad only be used for sending brief messages over the internet, rather than anything meaningful. If you want to do something like - oh, I don't know - write a novel? Then you'll need a laptop.

[Pepper Smith]

There's supposedly a separate keyboard you can get to go with it, if you want to use it to write novels. Most of the world isn't planning on using it that way, though...