Comments on: What does Apple’s iPad offer eBook lovers?

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:47:46 +0000

I think a major market should be the educational books, which is why I think that the big medical publishing companies should get their eBooks out as soon as possible into the iBook store. Ones like Elesiver that are already fairly tech savvy would find it fairly easy to implement, and might find that it ups their sales. They already provide an electronic reference in the cover of ever book you buy, so this could be the activation code on the iPad too.

By: Eli

Eli — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:41:11 +0000

The real issue is how to move beyond the eBook reader and still keep its benefits. E-ink is proprietary and does not allow a device to provide the high resolution options we crave for things like movies, pictures, e-mail, web browsing. Yet the backlit led displays necessary for these things is at odds with the benefits of e-ink. Not sure how to bridge this gap, if this were exclusively an e-reader I think we would have a real problem but as a multi-media device that also allows for documents to be read and adjusted I think we are looking at some real benefits.

By: Martin Hoscik

Martin Hoscik — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:24:17 +0000

Adrian

I hope you’re right, sadly the ill-informed coverage of eBooks – look at the near absence of warnings over the Kindle’s closed format – suggests the advantages of e-ink won’t be explained to potential punters.

By: Adrian E.

Adrian E. — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:18:15 +0000

I have serious doubts whether anyone who has ever enjoyed reading a book on a real e-book reader with an e-Ink display would ever want to go back to the pain of reading longer texts on traditional backlit displays (such as the one of the iPad or computer screens in general).

A few years back, Apple marketing might have been able to praise a device with an old-fashioned backlit screen as an e-book reader, but now it is too late for that, people already know that there is a better technology for reading electronic books.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:58:50 +0000

As a gadget fanatic, on first impressions it looks very cool. However I share Martin’s concerns that a back lit screen could cause eye strain compared to a standard e reader.

It will be interesting to see what kind of price point the first generation of ipads are offered for, the presentation on Apple’s UK website goes to great pains to reassure viewers that they intend to make the product available to as many consumers as possible.