It must be getting close to April 3rd because the iPad news is hotting up. Today we get our first glimpse at Amazon's free Kindle app for the iPad. We've also got a
Barnes & Noble iPad app on the way, courtesy of a report in the
New York Times, that has been completely redesigned by a team of 14 developers working since January to allow for custom fonts in multiple colors and quick page turns with finger swipes. The Kindle app, meanwhile, features a redefined core screen and reading experience, slow page turns, and new ways to view your eBook library. One view, pictured above, presents your books as large icons against a silhouetted figure under a tree -- the sun changes position in accordance to the time of day. Of course, the app also gives you access to the Kindle bookstore (assuming Apple approves) and saves your reading position so that you can pick up any Kindle app (or device) and continue reading right where you left off.
Fortunately, Amazon's Kindle App will be targeting tablets beyond the iPad. We're also hearing that
Skiff is almost certainly headed to Apple's tablet, and we suspect as many competitors as possible given the plethora of devices
demonstrated to us at CES. So seriously, we ask you, in an age where content is king, are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store?
Update: The Barnes & Noble app,
not the Kindle app, is being worked on by a team of 14 developers.
[Thanks, Jason D.]
posted March 22nd 2010 2:38AM
Def a Kindle Killer ... or a crusher if we want to talk about potential loss of sales.
@Springdaddy
Prefer a nice E-Ink screen for reading text over the iPad screen
much nicer for reading don'tcha think?
@Jordo1234
I'd much prefer a good LCD to the screens in the current Kindles for pretty much everything, including reading. The only advantage I see the EPDs actually having for my uses is battery life. 10 hours is nice, but not extremely impressive.
Nothing against reflective screens in principle. I'll just like them more when they are less crappy.
@Atkins I wish that was the case and we will see. In my experience though, Apple has a bit of a history (as with almost all pc manufacturers) of stretching the truth a bit with regards to real world battery life.
@Atkins
If this were an actual computer , I'd call bs on that battery life claim. But since apple is restricting users to a single-tasking experience, no freedom, and total control, over what the user does.....yea I guess they might be able to squeeze 10 hours out of this thing.
Although my iPhone goes from %100 to 20 in about 15 minutes of video. So yea...we'll see how this goes...
@TareG
I like the HD2 eReader tab, and have read 6 books on it so far. The beauty of it is that I always have my phone with me so I can read it every time I have a few spare minutes. E.g. picking wife up from gym (wouldn't be seen dead there myself of course) and she was 8.31 minutes late coming out, so I just picked up my HD2 and read my book for a while. The duration and intensity of the row that ensued was greatly reduced as a result.
Everybody was ranting about the color screen on the iPad and was busy telling eachother how bad it is for your eyes, yet everybody is sitting in front of a LCD screen everyday probably many hours a day, which makes this conversation kindoff lame right?.
@bingster
You would have a good point if Colored E-ink Display with a super fast frame rate is an option for the desktop/notebook. I review legal contracts from time to time, it is a painful experience that doesn't really cause pain to read through long documents like that on a LCD display, I always print them out for the ease of reading. Anyway, that is not to say iPad won't or will kill E-book in sales, it all comes down to what consumers want. Something to replace those paper bricks at home ,or one carries in travel? or a mobile multimedia internet device?
I'm not sure where all the jealous indignation comes from since I'd be willing to bet 95% of the Apple hating crew here can't be bothered to pick up a book, electronic or otherwise.
@Enorgasm
A lot of people bought the original Kindle, the Kindle 2, the DX, or another brand's E-Ink device, and since the expense was rather significant for a rather awful piece of technology, the only easy justification for the purchase was the screen (or in some cases, the free 3G). Naturally, it's the one aspect of any competing device they'll likely take issue with.
interesting. I was willing to bet that, now that the iPad has iBooks, the Kindle app would be removed from the appstore due to duplicating existing functionality.
Well. The pad isn't out yet, so Apple might still not approve the app :-)
@canarsieville "Relax. It's not that reading from an LCD "will make your eyes explode" as you put it."
Well he was answering this btw:
"Sure, if, unlike an LCD device, it doesn't make my eyes bleed after twenty minutes of reading."
Also:
"Continuous reading on an LCD can cause eye strain much easier than simply browsing the web or chatting, where your eyes are moving from one focal point to another."
That would be true for the e-ink device too. Eyestrain is basically muscle strain.
@BubbaJ I think that you will get more than 10 hours for reading. Apple states "Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music". But we will see.
Nooooooooo... Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit .. those are real colors
real contrast.. you cant have that on a ereader can you?
ereaders are supposed to look like crap no?
Why are people so gung ho on comparing the ipad to an e-reader? Shouldn't it be compared to other tablet devices? The number one function of an e-reader is for reading books. That is not the main function of the iPad. You really shouldn't compare them. I want an e-reader so I don't strain my eyes on an LCD and for the long battery life. That's it. Anything else an e-reader can do is just a bonus.
@Duiker
Why can't the main function of an iPad be reading books? If I buy one, that's what it'll be for primarily...books and documents, along with some magazines if they are decent enough.
Just because it can do video and music doesn't mean that those MUST be the intended functions of the device. They'll be popular sure, but it's perfectly fair in my opinion to compare them to ebook readers, just as it is to compare the iPad to other tablets.
I think the iPad will be a mediocre tablet, a great (but large) PMP (or whatever they're called these days), and probably the "best" ebook reader on the market until something better comes out. And I don't even like the iPad that much...
@BubbaJ Why would you buy an iPad if all you want it for is reading books? That would be like buying a car to listen to the radio. It's not an e-reader. It's not even classified as an e-reader. It's classified as a tablet.
Having said that, for reading books I love everything about the iPad except for the screen. Magazines will be great. But could you sit down for six hours and just read on it? I couldn't. My eyes will tire and I'll get a headache. That's just me. As I said in an earlier post, I spend 8 hours a day in front of 5 LCD monitors and I don't want to do that when I get home and want to read.
@Duiker
Your analogy makes no sense. Ebook reader devices are not good enough at displaying documents and books. They are too slow to navigate effectively and easily. The software in the Kindle and similar readers is terrible for presenting reasonably well-made books, and color diagrams and charts, which are in many of the books I read (admittedly not in fiction, but that's a pretty arbitrary boundary for something like "reading"). The contrast of E-Ink is simply too low to be comfortable to my eyes.
So far the iPad hasn't shown anything that proves that software will utilize the hardware intelligently to do more than just make a pretty (pretty useless) pageturning animation, but the potential is there, which cannot be said of any currently-available E-Ink or Sipix device. Had they demonstrated competent, productive reading software during the launch, I would have pre-ordered one. I did not, because I want to see if developers eventually do create usable software for reading.
I see tablets more for a greater proportion of creation to consumption, while readers and PMPs are intended much more for consumption. You can claim it's not a reader all you want, but that doesn't make any difference to the people who think the Kindle and its electrophoretic brethren are not good enough, and the iPad may just be a step in the right direction for readers, if the software goes right.
I look forward to other readers with Mirasol and Liquavista and other technologies, some of which will handle video. They'll be reflective, which will be great for sitting in a bright window where the LCD of the iPad will be at a disadvantage. They'll have better battery life. Unfortunately, they're not around yet, and odds are they'll screw up their software when they do finally appear. In the short term, Apple's the only game in town for me. I don't really trust Notion Ink to come forward on their promises, and even then, it'll be a huge stretch to imagine they are going to have good reader software.
@BubbaJ
Well have fun being ignorant. As long as you "think" the iPad is the best eBook reading device on the market, then you will be happy.
Just refrain from doing any kind of research, at all, about the primary functionality you will be purchasing an iPad for. You then would risk not being happy with your new device....you know....the drawbacks of actually being INFORMED.
Oh and BubbaJ, Duiker's analogy makes perfect sense. You are buying something that is not designed to be a book reader, for the primary functionality of a book reader.
Just basing this off of your post, but it sounds like you have never used a Kindle. You are claiming things as Fact, some of which are completely false, and some of which are just best guesses.....seeing how you have never actually used an iPad, held an iPad, no less read an entire book on an iPad.
You are basing your pre-order and your argument over the possible potential of future software on the iPad. You cannot compare the two as fact. Currently, e-Ink readers are the best products on the market when it comes to reading Books.
Could software on the iPad give users more functionality then then Kinde, for example, has? Maybe....One thing that will not change though...which we do know as "fact" , is the hardware of the iPad. a back-lit lcd screen, which will NEVER be as good as an e-Ink display when it comes to prolonged reading. That can't be debated.
@BubbaJ
How's this for a better analogy then, you wouldn't buy a blackberry for surfing the net.
Actually most ebook readers are great a displaying books. Let's face it they weren't really intended for textbooks and charts. Can you imagine trying to read a textbook on a six inch screen? You haven't really touched on the drawbacks of the LCD on tired eyes or the battery life fro pleasure reading. That's what this is about. Reading for pleasure.
@(Unverified)
I own a Sony Reader, and have plenty of experience with ebook devices in general. They are not good enough.
You obviously did not read my post, since you seem to think that I pre-ordered. I didn't, and I won't. I said a few times that I'm waiting to see if the software development is there. If it's not, the iPad will be pretty much just as useless as any other reader. I suppose you are going to blame eyestrain from your LCD for being inept at reading my post?
As far as EPDs, I do not subscribe to their superiority as you do. I own one, and it's not very good. EPD devices are too slow to be useful to a lot of readers. Lots of casual fiction readers are happy justifying the speed with bullshit statements like "it's as fast as turning a paper page", but that's not good enough. LCD is currently the only game in town that's both a) available, and b) fast. I am waiting eagerly for Mirasol. I'm waiting eagerly for Liquavista. I'm waiting eagerly for Pixel Qi even. Right now though, LCD's the only one that delivers what I want.
I do not buy into the eye strain thing. I deal with computers all day just as many who claim it kills their eyes, and it doesn't bother me any more than any other fixed, unmoving vertical surface. Having used tablet PCs in the past, I do think them quite a bit superior a medium, but they have traditionally been way too thick, way too heavy, and have had miserable battery life. I stated in another post that the iPad's rated life isn't stellar or incredible, but fairly reasonable. Sure, I'd love to get a week out of a Mirasol or next-gen EPD (assuming the latter is fast enough), but again, those things aren't available, and there are no signs of them being available, and even if they become available, there are no signs of them actually being mated with good enough hardware and software.
If you get more comfort out of reflective screens, good for you. I certainly don't, and other than battery life and outdoor readability, I see no value in them, unless they are fast enough.
@Duiker
Ebook readers do not support proper book typography. Poor quality justification without hyphenation and embedding fonts is simply not good enough. One of my big hopes is that demand for higher quality text display will yield improvements to epub viewers and other ebook software, so they will look less like they were made by kindergarten students.
Again, I've no problems whatsoever with LCD reading. It is not more tiring or more painful than reading on paper or on EPD for me. Yes, perhaps it is because I am awesome, but I doubt it. If it affects you either due to genetic reasons, bad habits, or whatever, then sure I'll grant you that you are better off with a reflective screen. I do not however recommend it to everyone with an absolute "it's easier on the eyes!" because in my experience, it's not really.
@Duiker Who the hell reads for 6 hours straight after working 8 hours in front of 5 monitors?
Seriously, all these arguments against the iPad screen are getting more and more ridiculous.
@vqro
Uhmmm. Me?
@BubbaJ
(yawn) bored now.
I don't think its a wise move, but given Apple is not yet a monopoly in the smartphone or tablet business it is totally within Apple's rights to deny apps they don;t want sold through their store, for whatever reason they like. Removing porn apps won't rouse the mainstream. But if Apple does this major developers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, whose apps they have already accepted into the store once, they may have a really nasty PR problem on their hands. But since they don;t allow amazon to sell music via an app there certainly is a precedent. Yet they are not including iBookstore on the device so maybe their is not "duplicating functionality" since you have to download the program yourself. Let's hope so.
If Apple wants to give their own ecosystem a bit of a boost I would be fine if they took the approach they use with music and apply it to bookstores. Let us side-load anything we want, but reserve on-device downloading for their own content. Most other mp3 players and eBook readers use this model hoping you'll choose the convenience of direct downloads over content you buy elsewhere. It seems like fair compromise to me.
It would be a pleasant surprise if Apple allows all these stores to coexist simultaneously on the device though.
I'm surprised Apple would even allow the Kindle app on the iPad.... maybe the Amazon MP3 Store and WalMart's MP3 Store will show up next
@BootsMcGavin
They alreadfy do allow a Kindle app on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Same with a Barnes & Noble Reader app. Question is will they remove or hobble these apps now that they have gotten into the eBook game?
@BootsMcGavin
I'm not surprised at all. Given that Apple is new to the eBook market and there's a lot of folks like me who love Kindle and are "heavily" invested in Kindle Books - I own like 40 Kindle Books but would love to have a better Kindle Reader. I'd purchase an iPad just to be able to read my Kindle Books on a supposedly better device. At this point Apples primary interest is getting the Hardware out the door so giving people reasons NOT to buy it would be dumb.