Apple vs Amazon
Just about everything you've said about Apple is either just as true about Amazon, or else it's too early to know either way, since neither iBooks nor the iPad are actually available.
I can tell you that I'm more likely to support a platform agnostic store like Amazon's than iTunes. With Amazon you have a wide range of devices that are supported now and you aren't tied down to any single companies device and store.
With Amazon you aren't tied down to a single device or store?
I'm a bit confused. How many devices does Amazon make? I thought it was one-- the Kindle. If you have a Kindle, you have access to Amazon for Kindle-format ebooks, since those are the only ones Amazon sells.
The iBooks application for the iPad (and, presumably the iPhone and the iPod Touch) will support FairPlay ePubs from Apple as well as DRM-free epubs from... well, just about anywhere.
So Amazon supports PCs, the Kindle, and (now) the Mac.
Apple also has another online store-- one for music and videos. It supports the Mac, the PC, and various iPods and other devices, through iTunes. Think there's any chance Apple might do the same, sooner or later?
With Apple you are locked down with ibooks. Will ibooks even be available for the ipod touch or Mac or pc? If not you can only read your ibooks on the ipad. No ipad no books.
Don't like iBooks? Try Stanza. It's already out, in the App Store, and supports iPhones and iPod Touches. Given what Apple has said about the iPad's ability to run existing apps, it should work. Stanza also supports multiple formats, multiple stores, and multiple devices.
Locked down? How do you know? Will it be available on the Touch? I'd wager a good sum it will be at some point. On the Mac and PC? Also possible. Perhaps not immediately-- the idea is to build a new ecosystem around the device, so just like the Kindle app for the Mac came AFTER the Kindle device and Kindle support on the iPhone, they may move to the desktop later.
At least with Amazon if you decide you don't like the kindle you can opt out for a ipod touch, ipad(I'm assuming they are updating their software for this platform), pc and now mac. I expect amazon to continue supporting other popular platforms in the future as well.
The difference is Amazon is more interested in selling books than devices while Apple is more interested in selling devices than books. I think Amazon's philosophy is more consumer friendly. In the unlikely event that the iPad bombs, will there goes all your books. With amazon you keep your books.
You have no idea if that's the case or not. You have no idea if Apple would be obligated to withdraw DRM authorization for books sold to iPad owners-- and you have no idea about whether or not Amazon would be obligated to do the same or not. Most likely, if the iPad bombs, people will get to keep what they have and the flow of new content will stop if the device is discontinued-- but there's absolutely no indication that the situation with the Kindle is any different whatsoever.
There's no indication that the iPad needs a network connection to a DRM server before you are allowed access to content on the device. That's certainly not true of music or applications on an iPod Touch or iPhone-- why would it be true on the iPad? So even in the event of the iPad becoming unsuccessful, and even if Apple had the capability and desire to try and expire your content-- keep your device from syncing or connecting and it wouldn't happen.
Not that it would. There's only one company I'm aware of that's been managing to run a long-term digital content sales operation supporting multiple devices while (mostly) keeping both content creators and customers happy: oh yeah... Apple.
That doesn't mean Amazon can't or won't do it, but while Apple has had more than enough success with the iPod/iPhone ecosystem to trot out rosy sales figures on a regular basis, Amazon has been mum about the Kindle, which is not a good sign.
Apple's approach, focusing more on the platform that the content, is better for consumers. It's kept online music prices down compared to what the publishers wanted, and it wouldn't be entirely off-base to suggest that the same may well happen with books.
Amazon is selling you a Kindle because they want you to buy books. You'll buy a new Kindle only once every few years, but they want you to buy a lot of books, because that's where the money is. There's no incentive to give you a break on the books, but every incentive to keep the cost of the device down.
Apple is interested in selling you an iPad to do several functions, of which reading is one. To do that, they offer you a content pipe, but it's a value-add; for them, the margin is on the devices. They have every incentive to keep book prices down, where nearly every other element in the publishing business now is trying to maintain their existing arcane structure, built around textbooks, tentpole hardcovers, and the deliberate destruction of millions of returns each year.
About the only potential advantage Amazon could have in this battle is if as in the PC ecosystem, you could choose from a dizzying variety of Kindle format compatible hardware readers-- a range of devices that Apple could not necessarily match. That's not the case; Amazon has instead chosen to mimic Apple's approach, providing the entire pipeline: the content, the storefront, the end-user device. The problem is that the Kindle is even more purpose-specific than an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or an iPad.
So: less flexible devices (or I guess I should say "device) and no incentive to provide aggressive pricing (except, of course, competition from Apple) and essentially the same situation with regards to DRM-- both read only their own store's content plus unencumbered content-- except the Apple devices also support other readers and other storefronts, which the Kindle doesn't.
How in the heck does this turn into an advantage for Amazon and the Kindle? I just don't see it.
