If Jobs says "people don't read anymore," does this headline really exist?
By Ryan Block 
posted January 16th 2008 3:06PM
posted January 16th 2008 3:06PM
Irony: You're reading right now.
Further irony: You're probably not reading Engadget on a Kindle (at least not through its regular RSS reader).
Is this like geeky Koan or something? Does this mean Engadget doesn't exist? Either way, we get his point. It's a damn shame fewer people aren't reading real books.
True story: I had a bed delivered to my house. The guys delivering marveled at our thousands of books. "Wow, that's a lot of books. I haven't read a book since high-school" one said. And I thought: "and that's why you deliver beds for a living and I don't."
Literacy is important. It makes your brain work and it's fun.
Jobs is an idiot. Again. Yes, only 60 percent of the population buys more than one book a year. That makes sense. Not everyone can read (sadly). Lots of people are stupid. Or lazy. We're in an age now where intellect is ridiculed. Reading is "for nerds." Is Jobs telling us he caters to ignorant, lazy and stupid people? Sounds about right to me. Apple: products for jocks and bimbos. Apple: it's got what plants crave.
(Stolen from "LittleJon" comment over on Giz:)
"New York, NY, May 22, 2007: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has today released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States. The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from eighty-one publishers inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $24.2 billion in 2006.
"Trade sales of adult and juvenile books grew 2.9 percent to $8.3 billion, a compound growth rate of 3.7 percent per year since 2002. The strongest growth in this category came from adult paperback books whose sales rose 8.5 percent on last year to a total of $2.3 billion. Adult hardbound books also had a strong year growing by 4.1 percent to $2.6 billion."
"Mass market paperbacks saw growth of 4.6 percent in 2006 reaching $1.1 billion."
Right now Jeff Bezos is laughing his ass off at Jobs. If you don't read you're fucked. Have fun flipping those burgers you illiterate fuck-wits.
It's about damn time for Steve Jobs to get a "Ce-oh-no-he-didn't!" post.
Wow...just when I thought civilization couldn't get worse, I stand corrected. Books are non breakable, and last for generations. Your PDA? Probably will be scrapped when the PDA 2 comes out! With Digital Turnip Twaddling!!! Seriously, its kinda sad...
Well, considering that I manage a bookstore that is being closed down next week, I'd have to agree with Steve on this one. People don't read much anymore, or at least aren't buying books like they used to.
Harry Potter caused a boost, but it wasn't enough to make a dent in the number of people who simply do not read.
The most pathetic thing I ever see at work is people who come in with a gift card for my bookstore, and then use it to purchase inane magazines, candy, and toys. They seem absolutely stumped for what to do with a gift card for a bookstore, and do everything they can to avoid buying a book. I just have to laugh to myself and think, "Someone gave you a gift card to a bookstore because they were trying to give you a hint that you're an ignorant sonofabitch."
And kiddies: Manga are not "books", per se. If you're not throwing some non-comic books in with your reading material, then you're doing NO FAVORS to you brain. I can't believe the number of young women who waste hundreds of dollars every month buying guy-on-guy manga (Yaoi) that basically passes for light gay porn, or furry books, or Yuri books (girl-on-girl), or anything else of a sexual nature. Comic books about sexual relationships are NOT a substitute for the real thing. At least the women reading romance novels get some variety, and are reading whole pages of text rather than the occasional nonsensical word balloon.
The state of literacy in America is sad. I weep for the future. I think Amazon.com is being pretty optimistic about the Kindle. People have to be readers in order for it to be worth anything to them.
your brain
I don't hate manga... But I do hate that some people won't crack open anything that ISN'T manga.
Read a novel, kids.
Even if his assumptions are correct - and I doubt they are - the business logic of his statement is flawed. What % of the population does he believe needs an ultra-portable device? Certainly less than 60%. The fact is that whether people are now reading fewer or more (a statement we can't begin to examine because we don't really have data on it and unless we start collecting stats on a census we are probably not going to get accurate results)is irrelevant. From a business perspective there is a market for e-book readers. That market might not be big enough to justify a line of e-book reader products but as Amazon, Sony and others have shown it warrants at least a devices that test the market. Furthermore if that device can address the common issues with e-book readers these days (native PDF support, accessibility, ability to upgrade, reasonable pricing)then surely such a device can have an impact in the market. For all the talk about innovation and cutting edge thinking, Mr. Jobs seems to be very much about the safe route these days.
Put in context (the Kindle as a product solely for the purpose of reading) his statement makes sense.
It costs $400. If we use the typical cost of a Kindle book on Amazon then it is the cost of 40 digital books.
Assuming that around 60 percent of Americans read 2 or more books (not necessarily bought), then buying a Kindle is like buying 20 years worth of books in one go!
Of course, you don't actually get 40 books with a Kindle, you'd actually have to spend another $400. As one who is studying Business Economics, noble as Amazon's effort may appear, the data is stacked against it: http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/09/news/bookreading/index.htm
Now because CDs are a digital storage medium it was easy for people to transfer all of their music purchases from optical disk to iPods/iPhones. Not to mention all of the stolen music. Also, iPhone is a multipurpose device. And you don't have to pay a subscription for reading blogs and newspapers to boot!
Anyhow, I just think all of this is a reaction toward the notion that Americans are dumb. Of course Jobs statement isn't about that. He's talking specifically about the viability of a product. It shows, though, that many people in fact do not *understand* what they read.
Lastly, there is some suggestion that Amazon is going to re-price the Kindle to a significantly lower figure. They should go whole hog and release a digital device akin to an iPod touch.
- Peace
I am reading.... ebooks
There is one more advantage to books. Unlike Laptops, Palms, etc. they don't break when you hit people like Jobs over the head with them, but continue to function quite well, just like Jobs head, once he's recieved a book-beating or two over the head.
Put in context (the Kindle as a product solely for the purpose of reading) his statement makes sense.
It costs $400. If we use the typical cost of a Kindle book on Amazon then it is the cost of 40 digital books.
Assuming that around 60 percent of Americans read 2 or more books (not necessarily bought), then buying a Kindle is like buying 20 years worth of books in one go!
Of course, you don't actually get 40 books with a Kindle, you'd actually have to spend another $400. As one who is studying Business Economics, noble as Amazon's effort may appear, the data is stacked against it: http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/09/news/bookreading/index.htm
Now because CDs are a digital storage medium it was easy for people to transfer all of their music purchases from optical disk to iPods/iPhones. Not to mention all of the stolen music. Also, iPhone is a multipurpose device. And you don't have to pay a subscription for reading blogs and newspapers to boot!
Anyhow, I just think all of this is a reaction toward the notion that Americans are dumb. Of course Jobs statement isn't about that. He's talking specifically about the viability of a product. It shows, though, that many people in fact do not *understand* what they read.
Lastly, there is some suggestion that Amazon is going to re-price the Kindle to a significantly lower figure. They should go whole hog and release a digital device akin to an iPod touch.
- Peace
People are getting way to worked up and taking this quote so personally for some reason. Obviously he's exaggerating, like saying "nobody watches hockey." I think he makes a valid point that the Kindle is more of a niche market - book readers - as opposed to a real mainstream market. Now if it was a wifi equipped RSS reader displaying pictures and such too, that would be something "everyone" would use.
We all know Jobbs doesn't read. Poor guy. I think the public loves him the way they we love little kids: they just say the darnedest things and that makes us feel sorry for them. I just want to pinch his cheeks.
the guy is a god, if he says it its true.
i dont know about you Ryan but i'd rather read engadget than a book.
So..now that everything is moving towards wireless...Air this and Air that. When can i expect to be able to wirelessly sync my iPod Touch or iPhone to my fancy new Macbook Air?
Nobody reads? Are you kidding me! What an idiot, Nobody needs another overpriced Ipod that surfs the net. If I want to surf the net I'll use a real computer.
Unfortunately, if you want to rent a movie from iTunes, you'll have to click on a checkbox that says "I have read and agreed to the iTunes Terms and Conditions." For a people who do not read, this is a lot of text for us to expect to parse, especially while drunk and desiring video entertainment. I wish I could cut and paste out of it, but iTunes won't let me. It's seriously at least five pages of Terms, which you are supposed to read, and you have to say you read them if you want to download a rental.
People don't read books because there's no iPod for them. Books themselves are unwieldy and inefficient. But at it's best, it beats out music and film, because it's a more open experience.
I really want Jobs proven wrong on this one.
Lets see 40% of 300 million is 120 million. I'll take just 1 penny from each one if I could. And then there are people like my daughter Kaylee, that read 1 book a day!
I've read 3 books this year, and I don't even particularly like books. Yes this year, 2008.
Since nobody reads, does the SJ's interview on the NYT really exists?
Jobs has understood the markets well. People are indeed no longer reading (whether it is a hardcopy or soft) and the world is getting dumber. Consequently Apple's business is booming because Apple targets this growing herd of dumb people. Time for all the dumb people to make a smart move and invest in apple shares.
Did anybody listen to music before Apple came out with the iPod? Of course they didn't! It was a niche activity, listening to music. Nobody listened to music. Why would anyone listen to music? What is the point of listening to music when you could be surfing the web?
HOWEVER, as soon as people realised that listening to music on the Apple iPod was a totally new and exciting experience, opening up a whole new world of aural entertainment (and wittertainment), everyone started doing it.
The same will happen with reading. How can anyone possibly disagree with Jobsy that nobody reads now but just you wait - as soon as someone comes out with a slick iReader, we'll all be doing it! Reading will be the new listening to music.
HEY YOU...Steve Jobs, what give you the right to say we don't read ? well as far as i am concerned you have just joined bill gates and a few others as TOTALLY irrelevant & pompous and who's products will not be in my home. isn't it time for you to retire??
m.
Translation: "Eff niche markets!"
"Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year."
That might help explain the levels of literacy displayed on Engadget's comment pages.
If true, that number is scary. I've already read three books in 2008.
And I've just realised - it should be "one book or fewer", not "one book or less".
Kindle will actually save me money on buying books. Kindles books are cheaper on average than a new released hardback. In addition I have access to thousands of free books on project Gutenberg. My annual cost on books will payoff in less than a year.
And those who dis the kindle without using it are very un-informed.
I'm not sure what's more disturbing about this:
Jobs' grammar in that quoted statement, Jobs actually believing that statement (Fictionwise seems to be doing pretty well for itself. The Gutenberg Project is still going strong.) or the last sentence of the engadget post:
It's a damn shame fewer people aren't reading real books."
Was that meant to say that? 'Cause that's a seriously messed up sentence if that's not some kind of joke.
Ack. I need to not post things when I'm this tired. Missed some punctuation and didn't fix my own grammar when I added a third point. Note to self: Proofread *before* clicking on "Add Your Comments" next time. *proofreading now*