Apple has unveiled their long-awaited tablet, the iPad. While this new device holds many promises for innovative magazine publishers, it’s important to keep an eye on what market Apple is targeting with the iPad.
eBook reader or netbook?
The iPad is not a netbook – it’s an alternative to a netbook computer, and a very attractive one at that. But it’s far from a dedicated e-reader. It can definitely be used for reading – especially casual reading – but the screen is not the e-ink type like the Kindle and other e-readers feature. It’s much harder on the eyes, and the device has a lot less battery-life: 10 hours compared to Kindle’s seven days.
No, this device should not be compared with the Kindle and other e-readers. It is designed to be used for many things including gaming, casual reading, surfing, light productivity, watching a TV show, and pretty much any use that you can get out of the 140.000 existing apps that can be run on it. The iPad is not a Kindle killer: the future of dedicated e-readers lies with whether or not there’s a market for a dedicated reading device or not. Price convergence between iPad and Kindle will not happen. If the iPad becomes cheaper (which it won’t), so will the Kindle.
With this in mind, you should look at the iPad as Apple’s re-invention of the netbook computer. Steve Jobs has on several occasions spoken of the netbook wave as something Apple would not join – it was not in the Apple DNA to build “cheap, ill-designed computers”. It’s now clear where he was headed with such statements: with the iPad, Jobs is trying to position a product that can do just as much as the unsightly netbooks while being radically different, innovative, beautiful and all the other positive superlatives we’re by now used to hearing about Apple. In Job’s own words, he sees the iPad as “filling the gap between smartphones and notebooks” – and if that’s not new-speak for “netbook”, I don’t know what is.
The iBook store looks promising
This doesn’t mean that Apple is not going for a bite of the e-book market. The dedicated iBook store looks promising. But at the end of the day, the iPad is ill-suited for reading a book. Magazines, on the other hand, can be beautiful on the device, and the screen is large enough for a great casual reading experience. However, magazine publishers still need to do the leg-work of re-doing the layout of their publications if they want to give readers a good experience.
Will the iPad be a success? Well, the price (starting at $499) seems to be the biggest pro, along with the vast amount of existing content: you get direct access to the iTunes store, iBook store and the App store with 140.000 apps working out of the box. And if you look at the iPad as a netbook alternative, you’re past all the negative talk about the missing market for a product like this. There are downsides, and it will definitely be an uphill struggle to position the iPad, but Apple has the muscle to do it.
No matter what, here at Zmags, we’re definitely keeping an eye on the iPad. Stay tuned for news about how you can easily bring your Zmags publications to the iPad and other mobile devices in the upcoming months!
