Alert! Today, Apple Inc’s Steve Jobs unveiled the .70 kg “iPad“, the tablet-style computer that has been hyped by the digital-device-and-content community for months (years?).
The reaction to the announcement, broadcast over thousands of tweets on Twitter, has been mixed, mainly because the device doesn’t seem to be much more than an “iTouch for grandpas”, as one twitterer put it, referrering to the 9-inch large-type screen.
Indeed, the most significant component of Jobs’ presentation – for the publishing world, at least – may be the tablet’s integration with a new ebook delivery service called – no prizes for guessing – “iBooks”.
It’s too early to comment on the full significance of Apple’s move into the bookshop business, but several people attending the presentation mentioned Jobs’ obvious glee when the slide that showed iPad side-by-side with Amazon.com’s Kindle came up. Jobs reportedly said, rather graciously – but also to indicate that the age of the eReader is over – that the iPad will “stand upon the shoulders of the Kindle”.
Follow the live iBooks commentary here:
And click here to follow iPad commentary generally.
To see how the announcement went down, check out the HuffPost’s somewhat underweight liveblog. In fact, Gizmodo’s is much better, and it’s illustrated, so rather click in that direction.
Of the iPad drawbacks mentioned so far, two stand out for me: there’s no onboard camera (at least, it hasn’t been mentioned at the time of this writing), and Flash doesn’t seem to be supported – meaning you won’t be able to stream ebooks on services like Scribd. (No Flash: does that make this tablet less than a computer? Just thinking aloud…) On the plus side, the iBooks store will be using the non-proprietary “ePub” format for its ebooks, which will put significant pressure on Amazon to rethink its proprietary .azw file format very soon. Major publishers like Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette have been mentioned as the early iPad partners.
The basic iPad will cost $499, about twice the price of a Kindle. Here’s what the different iPad combos will cost:
The device is expected to ship within the US within 60 days, and internationally by June/July. What’s more – and this is crucial – “all of the iPad 3G models are unlocked, and they use the new GSM microSIMs“.
BOOK SA will follow iBooks developments closely, of course. Have a great iNight!
Update
Mashable has just posted its first-look take on iBooks, with pictures:
There’s no doubt about it, Apple’s newly unveiled iPad is the ebook reader that will change the game, especially since it is directly attacking Amazon’s Kindle.
And Steve Jobs wasn’t being coy about it, saying this morning: “Amazon’s done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle. We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a little further.”
Taking it further is a bit of an understatement.
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January 27th, 2010 @22:06 #
http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/
At the bottom of the page, in a small grey font, one finds the footnote:
iBooks available in the U.S. only.
January 27th, 2010 @22:31 #
Thanks for that, Liam. I saw some tweets to the effect that an international bookstore rollout will happen later this year. Seems like Kindle has helped pave the way for that, as its international store is far more open than, say, Apple's iTunes store.
January 27th, 2010 @23:04 #
but still... I think this is what I've been waiting for... 'cept the price, of course
January 27th, 2010 @23:37 #
The thing that the iPad has that the Kindle doesn't - to the former's detriment, from my point of view - is a backlight. I've tried to read long pieces on my iTouch without success - the eyes tire from looking minutely into a bright light for a long time - whereas iPaper better suits the way my ocular nerve system is wired. The Kindle better suits my brain, too, because it's ""totally immersive": read a Kindle for ten minutes and you forget you're not reading a book. I'm not sure this will be the case w/the iPad, which will, of course, be useful for a million other book-related things. We might be looking at a Kindle Komplement, though, rather than a Kindle Killer.
January 27th, 2010 @23:58 #
Where the iPad will have a definite edge is in scanned comic books; few graphic novels translate well to the size or colour requirements of the Kindle or iPhone/iPod Touch. Not a major sector, but something to consider.
Also: iTampon is ahead of iPad, Apple and Steve Jobs on Twitter's global trending topics.
January 28th, 2010 @00:00 #
[Marvel in particular has been experimenting with digital comic book forms, so the appeal wouldn't just be for deplorable comic pirates.]
January 28th, 2010 @09:17 #
Luckily none of the 3G models will be network-locked (Steve mentioned during the presentation that they should work almost anywhere in the world).
So, if Core decides on a ridiculous price for the device in South Africa we can always have friends import iPads for us from overseas. :)
January 28th, 2010 @10:23 #
Here's the Reuters story, which is subtitled "No Kindle Killer":
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/article280873.ece
January 28th, 2010 @10:25 #
That article reflects my concerns about how reading text for long periods via a backlit screen can wear one out.
January 28th, 2010 @10:29 #
Also - and this is super clever on Amazon's part - "customers [will] soon be able to sync their Kindle books to the iPad." That's the perfect solution, in fact: you get the best of both worlds, extreme portability and best readability w/the Kindle, and full-power computing (minus Flash) plus books with the iPad. Now I'm sold.
January 28th, 2010 @11:09 #
"Please don't make us explain how it works."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs
January 28th, 2010 @11:46 #
Maybe this will be good news for poets - small presses can use Kindle/iPad to disseminate under-read poetry more widely?
January 28th, 2010 @12:21 #
There's an electronic device called iTampon????
January 28th, 2010 @12:58 #
I'll have one. (An iPad, not an iTampon.)
January 28th, 2010 @13:38 #
RICHARD. I just watched that clip. Off to find bleach for mind, and for desk (usual mirth-tea-spillage).
January 28th, 2010 @16:35 #
Sorry, Helen, I just had to share.
January 28th, 2010 @17:18 #
Richard, love it.
January 28th, 2010 @21:29 #
The iPad also had no multitasking, like the iPhone, which is a step back to the early '90s. So it's not quite a netbook and not quite a reader. Give me mildew and chocolate fingerprints any day.