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For many iPad users, iPad makes e-book devices unnecessary
July 11, 2010 | 2:12 pm
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By Chris Meadows
Mashable has a look at a market research survey on how the iPad is being used, and how its sales are affecting related devices such as e-readers, hand-held gaming consoles, and netbooks.
The survey notes that the iPad is very popular as a gaming device, many owners are new to Apple, and most people still think of the iPad as an unnecessary, expensive toy. But Mashable has this to say on the subject of the iPad and e-book readers:
The biggest category that has been affected by the iPad is that of standalone e-readers. Beyond just Resolve’s own survey results, we’re already seen evidence of this in the marketplace; both Barnes & Noble and Amazon recently slashed the prices of their e-readers.
Even before the Kindle and Nook price cuts, we were already seeing some movement with lower-priced e-readers. We think that reading-only devices will ultimately find a new market at the sub $100 price point. Even at $200, the value proposition for an e-reader versus an iPad is tough to overcome.
Also, a chart shows that e-readers rate at the top of the list of “devices [survey respondents] would not buy after owning an iPad”, at 49%, ahead of portable gaming devices, netbook/laptops, MP3 players, and other devices.
It seems that despite all the complaints one often hears about reading from a glowy screen, iPad buyers have other ideas. But on the other hand, it is not possible to tell how many of those people who will not buy e-book readers after buying an iPad would not have bought one anyway.
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Comments:
Chris,
“It seems that despite all the complaints one often hears about reading from a glowy screen, iPad buyers have other ideas…”
At the risk of being a one-issue commentor, the glowy screen is a software configuration issue, not an inherent characteristic of the iPad.
If, where possible, the display is configured to display yellow text on a black background, you get what,IMO, is an ideal indoor reading display.
1. The black background seems to be effectively equivalent to a non-backlit display, and incapable by itself of producing eyestrain.
2. The yellow text can be adjusted by the display brightness control over a contrast range of many times an e-ink display all the way to zero, to taste.
3. You would think that white text on a black background would work about as well, but it doesn’t. The white letters are too harsh and edgy, at least for decayed vision and high contrast levels. Some other color combinations would be expected to work well, but I always come back to yellow on black.
4. With the iPad, you can turn down room lighting to reduce/eliminate reflections and watch TV in the same room.
5. Right now only the B&N Reader App for the iPad can be configured for yellow text on black. In the few weeks that this has been out, Amazon has lost a dozen or more of my purchases to B&N for this reason alone.
6. If you don’t have an iPad, you should be able to experiment with the colors using the B&N reader for the PC, or other unknown readers not associated with the big stores.
Regards, Don
I have to wonder how many of those surveyed actually have hands-on experience with both ereaders and an iPad – because the weight and form factor of the iPad definitely leaves something to be desired.
Even if I had an iPad, I’d still want a dedicated reader device for portable reading, due to the advantages they provide. They’d have to shrink the weight and size, and have a transflective screen before I consider readers obsolete, and even then there’s the question of whether competing multi-function devices are more attractive in other ways.
How about a survey for those of us who have no intention of ever buying an iPad?
How about a survey that starts with actual readers, instead of people who probably only read a book or two a year.
The iPad is too big to read comfortably on, the same reason I would never get a Kindle DX. With a screen that big, you may as well read on a netbook, which does a lot more than the iPad, at the same time and for a lot less cost.
The iPad also has the same disadvantage in bright light as any computer screen, you can’t read it and it glares.
People who rushed out to get an iPad are in two camps, Apple lovers who buy all of their gizmos, and techies who like the newest, coolest toys. They are all the people least likely to read a lot.
Real readers stick to physical books or book readers.
I dunno; I consider myself a “real reader” and I read on my iPad all the time.
The survey is pretty meaningless for judging e-reader preference. Too many factors unaccounted for. They need to get a thousand or more people who a) actually read a lot, b) own both an iPad and an e-ink reader, and c) have equal access to all their ebooks on both devices. This can be done if the survey is limited to those who buy ebooks from Amazon.com and read them on both a Kindle and Kindle for iPad.
I’ll sit up and take notice of the results if that kind of rational study is done.
Like Chris, I read on the iPad all the time. I expect I will have read about 100 books on it by the end of this year. I also own a Sony 700 (bought in 2008) and have read about 150 books on it. I no longer use the Sony. One friend who bought a Sony around the same time I did, has also switched. A second friend says she is using both about equally. Both those friends read more books than I do.
Frankly, e-ink readers and the iPad work just fine for reading books. The question for 2011~2012 will be, can dedicated ereader prices be made low enough to be given away by book clubs, or together with commitments to purchase a minimum number of books.
With more tablet makers expected to join the iPad in the next 12 months, the iPad type market is going to be a much larger place than the e-ink ereader market. Ebook retailers are already hedging their bets by offering their own reader apps for the iPad and one has to wonder how long Amazon, B&N et al will want to stay in the device manufacturing game if the product has a minor market share and limited growth potential.
Certainly my iPad experience (a device I love) quickly showed me that I really don’t like reading books on it. But it does not have me rushing out to buy a dedicated e-ink device. Maybe once there is an affordable colour e-ink device that will change (as comic reading is a very important factor for me).
For now its just reinforced me as a print reader. Of course being a dedicated library user I didn’t really expect any ebook device to win me over.
Ric – the Sony 700′s screen is, to put it bluntly, crap. The extra screen layers and glare make it a lot blurrier than eink screens on other devices. I don’t really consider it an acceptable example of what you achieve with a dedicated ereader.
I will give you that the iPad is a very interesting device from a distribution standpoint – the potential market size is already a lot bigger than for the other devices. But from a book consuming standpoint, I’d rather use a dedicated reader if I’m going to relax and read fiction. Like the Kindle DX, the iPad may have more of a reading niche for textbooks and graph heavy content.
Does anyone have a link to the actual study? I’d like to see whether the e-reader question specifically said “iPad”, or whether it included Kindle/Stanza/etc apps on the iPhone or iPod. I’ve been reading on my iPhone for over a year now, and I think it’s just fine; discussions with iPhone-owner co-workers suggest the same for them.
Frode, I agree the 700 is far from being a great example of an e-ink reader. That said, I read in places where screen glare/reflections are not an issue, and both the friends I mentioned have non-backlit Sony readers.
Ultimately the success of e-ink readers will be decided by the mass market and in that context I believe the future for e-ink is not promising.