Comments on: iPad: Kindle Killer?

By: Richard Berthao

Richard Berthao — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:11:50 +0000

I have a Kindle now and am considering an iPad. I have tried an iPad in the store and it was nice. I look at it as a giant iPod touch (and I like my iPod touch). The one area that the iPad is better for reading is magazines and comics; I read both. So, I see the iPad as an additional device. I just don't know how it would be to do long term reading on that bright screen. I try to use the Kindle App on my iPod but it is not the same “feel” as the e-ink.

By: seanovan

seanovan — Sun, 02 May 2010 09:19:40 +0000

I live in Japan, where space is at a real premium. That means that having too many books forces me to recycle/toss even the books I expect I'd like to read again someday. So e-readers make a lot of sense to me.

As has been said, nobody generates a crowd of gawkers with a Kindle (iPad is a different story), but the reading experience is very close to paper. That's Amazon's stated purpose. As a result, Apple's foray into Amazon's territory will only help to gain acceptance for ebooks. If Amazon loses 20% market share, but the market itself expands exponentially, this is only good for Amazon. I doubt that even they expect to keep the (by some accounts) 80% market share they currently enjoy. And since the _reading_ experience for the Kindle is so much better (not the multi-media consumption experience of the iPad, of course) then more readers will choose Kindle over other alternatives.

Long story short, the iPad is good for Amazon.

By: Daniel J. Donovan

Daniel J. Donovan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:48:40 +0000

My concern is more around reading for pleasure, as in novels. Strictly text.

Still, you raise an interesting point. I had not considered technical publications, where the color display would certainly be an enormous advantage. I still wouldn't want to read on it, though.

As for the format issue, this certainly puts even more pressure on Amazon to make the Kindle more open. In the meantime, I just use Savory: http://blog.fsck.com/2009/04/savory.html

By: Jonathan.Dodds

Jonathan.Dodds — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:04:28 +0000

I've stopped buying tech books in paper. It kills me to toss any book into the recycling bin but 'Beginning iPhone 3 Development' <http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430224594> doesn't have much shelf life left.

For the tech book collection (which is mostly either PDF or ePub) wouldn't I be better off with an iPad, if only for the color display and ePub support?