January 29th, 2010 -- by Bacchus
A Rare ErosBlog Tech Prediction
The iPad is not going to take off as an ebook reader. I haven’t seen it, I haven’t thumbed its virtual pages with its flashy on-screen touch controls, I don’t have the first clue what it offers for a reading experience. But, as an ebook reader, it will fail. (Whether it achieves commercial success on the strength of its other virtues, I do not care to opine.)
How do I know it will fail as an ebook reader? Is it because Twitter is alive with #iTampon jokes? No, it’s because, for once, Steve Jobs has chased a market he manifestly does not understand. Here’s proof:
Steve Jobs, on the device’s 10 hour battery life: “Ten hours is a long time, you’re not going to read for 10 hours.”
Not on your device, obviously. Next product, please!
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Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=4503
What does this have to do with sex?
Confused, what does this have to do with sex? Nothing.
Prithee, tell me what is your point?
For those looking for an ebook reader, without being locked into Kindle or others, I recommend the Nokia N900 (smartphone) or N810 (non smartphone version) Internet Tablet. These are, I think, what the iPad should have been, just with a smaller display.
I have used the N800 (slightly earlier version) for several months and it makes a superb book reader, and social networking tool.
n.b. Nokia isn’t paying me for this, but if they’d like to send a new N900 my way, it would be much appreciated! :D
Yeah, can’t do anything on a ten hour batter life. Particularly if you’re reading a steamy novel. For a smart guy, Jobs is kinda dumb.
I’m not so sure.
Do people read for ten hours at a stretch? Probably not. more like a few hours here, a few hours there, with time in between to recharge.
It could work.
No, what kills the ebook experience is having the reader die while you are using it. It doesn’t matter how long you read, what matters is how often it goes dead. Because, unless you are Martha Stewart with a special room in your house for keeping all your charging devices in, you’ll inevitably forget.
Longer battery life — measured in days or weeks, not hours — is a big part of what makes the Kindle so useful.
Also, keep in mind that while traveling having a device with staying power is a huge win. Ten hours won’t seem like that much if you’re stuck in an airport for any length of time or on a flight between North America and Asia.
For the record, *I* read for ten hours at a stretch, all the time. And although I’m in the minority, Faustus and Bacchus also make very good points about charging and battery life.
The Kindle can pretty much be carried around and used like a paperback. I have a lot of short-term downtime during the day, 20 minutes here, 40 minutes there, with nothing to do but wait, that reading fills nicely. Throw in a few hours here and there if the book really grabs me and I can do 10 hours in a day, easy.
The other downside to iPad as a primary reader is the e-ink versus illuminated screen issue. Reading backlit text for hours on end can be a massive strain. The Kindle and other dedicated e-books have managed to recreate the appearance of a printed book, which the iPad really can’t do.
On the other hand, it’ll be great for movies.
The iPad doesn’t support flash to enable porn viewing, but seriously, Apple has issues with Adobe and Jobs blames Adobe for their ‘laziness’ to integrate Adobe flash player on its iPad and iPhone.