I agree, I think that it will be exciting to see where Apple will take this. If the past is anything to go by, early adopters benefit the most of new platforms.
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HarperCollins Negotiating With Apple Over e-Books on New Tablet Device?
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I agree, I think that it will be exciting to see where Apple will take this. If the past is anything to go by, early adopters benefit the most of new platforms.
No.
Let's face it e-ink is a pretty terrible fit for Apple.
E-ink battery life is great. And there's something nice and paper-like about a black on light-grey front-lit image.
But Apple's touch stuff is awesome because it is incredibly immediate and responsive. Movement and video works at 24 or 30 frames per second. That responsiveness is essential.
E-ink takes 1-2 seconds per frame! So that means...
No movies. No scrolling. No interaction. No touch.
So, I am pretty certain that E-ink will not be a feature of this device.
Instead, Apple will use LCD but try to stretch out the battery life, by having a large battery, efficient backlighting, and a super-efficient CPU and GPU.
C.
I don't get how some are lauding 2010 as the year of the eReader. Seems to me the tablet is going to be the death of eReaders through convergence of technology. We await to hear what happens to ePub - Apple no doubt has a plan for digital content distribution as a whole - books, movies, music, videos, rentals, streaming copies etc.
Apple could make more money with onLive than with books at the moment, but they can offer better profit margins to publishers for a lower price to the consumer. Now that's attractive to them. And when their rivals jump (e.g. https://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/05/coursesmart-looks-ahead-at-etextbooks-on-apples-tablet/)
... they're left in the situation where the others are huddling together still working out specs, whilst Apple's in all likelihood already got that work mostly done, and actually has hardware to ship in 2 months time by the millions. (with a 4G iPhone in the works.).
What happens on the Tablet, can be transferred to iTunes on a Mac (content wise). Big market. Very quiet about the *how* of all this, but we'll find out soon enough.
Apple could make more money with onLive than with books at the moment, but they can offer better profit margins to publishers for a lower price to the consumer. Now that's attractive to them. And when their rivals jump (e.g. https://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/05/coursesmart-looks-ahead-at-etextbooks-on-apples-tablet/)
... they're left in the situation where the others are huddling together still working out specs, whilst Apple's in all likelihood already got that work mostly done, and actually has hardware to ship in 2 months time by the millions. (with a 4G iPhone in the works.).
What happens on the Tablet, can be transferred to iTunes on a Mac (content wise). Big market. Very quiet about the *how* of all this, but we'll find out soon enough.
Or at least the store. They should call it the iStore or something. iTunes now sells music, films, TV shows, applications and soon ebooks. The name is outdated.
One thing that I kinda wish if all this stuff is true is for the tablet (and possibly eventually the iPhone) to have print capability. I've bought some e-books & kinda like having the electronic version & a physical version. Only thing is, I use Adobe Digital Editions, and it's pretty bloated. I printed a few books from it and took a good 15-30 minutes for the print queue to just show up, plus another 15-30 minutes for it to finish printing on a laser printer. Of course, my books were over 500 pages each. Good thing I printed double sided. :-/
Plus, should I find something online or do something on the tablet, it would be easier to print it directly rather than having to sync to another printer 1st. Nothing major, maybe a just a generic printer driver & network printer support.
One thing I also hope if the tablet's real & it gets a book reader: maybe a text to speech thing so it can read along while you read. And other e-reader functions like being able to highlight text, make notes in the margins, etc.
Plus, should I find something online or do something on the tablet, it would be easier to print it directly rather than having to sync to another printer 1st. Nothing major, maybe a just a generic printer driver & network printer support.
One thing I also hope if the tablet's real & it gets a book reader: maybe a text to speech thing so it can read along while you read. And other e-reader functions like being able to highlight text, make notes in the margins, etc.
I will not buy or even consider
I will not buy or even consider to purchase this thing if it uses any sort of DRM and/or proprietary file formats for ebook purchases. I will mo longer accept being tied to a particular vendor for my information. Especially books. DRM on books is the lowest form.
I accepted DRM for music and video, but DRM for books is too much for me. I might really want this device. I'm sure I will. It's new tech from Apple. I own A Newton if that means anything to any of you. But I will stand on my convictions here if DRM is used on ebook purchases.
I will not buy or even consider to purchase this thing if it uses any sort of DRM and/or proprietary file formats for ebook purchases. I will mo longer accept being tied to a particular vendor for my information. Especially books. DRM on books is the lowest form.
I accepted DRM for music and video, but DRM for books is too much for me. I might really want this device. I'm sure I will. It's new tech from Apple. I own A Newton if that means anything to any of you. But I will stand on my convictions here if DRM is used on ebook purchases.
I agree...
I think iTunes (and iTunes Store) need few radical things done to it:
1. name change
2. redesign
3. dedicated awesomely designed website / database
I agree. If Apple prices it low enough so that schools can do a 1:1 program (each student gets one), this would save a lot of space. I work in a school and seeing kids with huge backpacks is hard. This'll save a lot of space. If enough textbook companies fall in line, this'll really help. However, knowing how Apple usually prices its computers, the tablet would probably be too expensive for a 1:1 thing.
If this does happen, it would be kinda cool if someone made a grading app where teachers can keep track of grades. The teachers & students could download their textbooks where it has the text & questions. Students will send their answers to the teacher & his/her tablet would automatically grade the kids' answers.
This'll be pretty cool, but I know a lot of people will be like "Why do we need a tablet? Why not just use laptops or something?" I'm of the type where we should see what people can do with it first before going all ape **** about it. If someone finds a way to teach kids in an easier/better way with it, I'll use consider using one in school. But I don't think I'll get one just because it's different.
Thanks for posting the links. To me it looks like 'outside the box' stuff in that it carries the potential for a major change in education & research. I know with my doctoral thesis and the amendments I'm currently working on, if I want to check out a book I want to do that straightaway & this carries that potential. The Kindle strikes me as too much for too little & an Apple tablet with cut, paste & notes & audio/video i.e like my Macbook, but smaller with instant access to stuff is very interesting for the future.
I have a library, book-case & the floor packed with books & it's such a nuisance finding the right book, checking references etc., perhaps this is the beginning of a revolution...?
Color e-ink, from what I've seen with the CES 2010 demos isn't ready for prime time yet and also very expensive, though products are supposed to ship with it by early summer. I can't see Apple risking the potential success of the tablet w/ it though. One of the big problems with the Newton was that when it shipped the handwriting technology was half-baked and the bad rep stuck with updated models.
However, I wonder if Apple has some other hybrid screen or simulated color e-ink technology that doesn't require backlighting. That would be key for the tablet being a practical e-reader.
The tablet will have a dual layer screen that will do LCD color and grey scale e-ink. I forget who makes it.
LCDs are not appropriate technology for reading a book and lead to much higher eye strain.
The dual mode screen is the perfect solution, and it will be in the Apple tablet. Mark my words.
LCDs are not appropriate technology for reading a book and lead to much higher eye strain.
The dual mode screen is the perfect solution, and it will be in the Apple tablet. Mark my words.
Well, I don't know about you, but I've been using Stanza for about a year (now owned by Amazon) and haven't paid for a book yet. Then again, all the books I've downloaded have been Project Gutenberg freebies.
You know, there's a lot of difference between logic and emotion; emotion says something is definite when logic says it's possible. By stating "There's no way..." you express emotion and opinion. When someone says "It could do..." they express logic and opinion. You would be much better off to say, "It's hardly likely that..." since it allows for the possibility that you could be wrong.
I imagine that publishers and authors would pass along the savings of digital distribution (no printing, no shipping, no shelf space, no overstock, no misprints) to their customers, but again, as we saw in the music and video world, I imagine I would be wrong.
I'll follow up the first response by saying Unlikely, instead. The biggest reason is that e-ink isn't up to where Apple would consider it a 'standardized' technology yet. Yes, as the previous responder said, e-ink is great for battery life, but its response times are relatively low and the resolution, as yet, isn't high enough to permit accurate renderings of any real graphical data. Yes, I know that e-ink can handle 16-level greyscale jpgs, but even then the imagery is somewhat jagged and lacking in definiton. Right now it looks like newsprint photos from the front page, ok while it's small, but when you try to zoom in for detail, all you see is the dots.
Give it a few years. I'm not sure e-ink will ever become 'the' standard, but it should continue to improve and become 'a' standard, especially for dedicated e-reader devices. Since the tablet isn't expected to be a dedicated e-reader, I don't believe Apple will ever adopt it.
What evidence you do have? From what I've seen so far, this has not been the case. Many times e-books cost MORE than their paperback counterparts. And while Amazon has gotten new "best sellers" down to $9.99, other e-book stores often charge that same price as the hard bound copy with their typical 30-40% discount at B&M stores.
Also publishers often delay publication of an "e" edition to help pump up sales of hard bound editions.
Logically you are correct, but it just hasn't seemed to work this way so far. Maybe Apple can change the game. We'll see.
It's interesting that you say this, since the state of Maine and other school systems around the country are doing the 1:1 already with Apple laptops. Odds are, this device could be less expensive than the Macbooks they're currently using and thus allow more school systems to get involved.
I agree. And based on already-available software and technology, I'd say it's highly likely that it will happen.
This is probably one of the biggest problems with the concept today; too many people have established opinions based on current tablets, which are nothing but modified laptops, no matter how you look at them. They can't imagine that Apple, despite its history of upsetting the establishment, could create something that really does what it's supposed to do.
While I have no proof that what's coming is really a tablet device, my bet is that Apple is about to destroy 90% of the netbook market with what's coming, and possibly wipe out half of the current laptop market by creating something equivalent to an electronic Legal Pad; not only a media device, but truly as usable as putting pen to paper in a large enough format to be everyday functional as well.
Consider this: Apple already has Notes and To Do list capability in the iPhone OS which synchronizes to Mac Mail. It wouldn't take any effort at all to include synchronization to Pages and Numbers, both part of iWork. It would also take very little effort to add synchronization to the iLife apps iPhoto, iMovie and maybe even Garage Band; it's already synching to iTunes. By adding in the strong graphical creation hint of the invitation, we can almost assume that a version of MacPaint will be included as well.
In other words, if this new tablet device is anywhere nearly as capable as I expect, it could truly become the same kind of tool for education as the slates used in schools 150 years ago. If you haven't already read it, check out Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card and note the device used as the primary educational tool in the story.
I don't have any evidence. In fact, I'm arguing that this probably won't happen based on what we saw with music and videos. Funny how they feel it appropriate to charge you more for media that costs them less to produce and distribute.
It wouldn't surprise me if a brief demonstration of the next version of the App developer kit is given on the 27th. Probably to include a publication framework facilitating ;
1) Book Builder (with animated graphic inserts)
2) Magazine & Newspaper Builder (full embedded Ad framework, video, motion graphics and audio. Monthly subs right from your iTunes account)
3) Catalogue builder (integrated shopping cart for mail order firms)
4) Academic Library creator - digitised textbooks PURCHASED by UNIVERSITIES and loaded out by certified university students within iTunes
and a ton of Apple things we haven't even thought of all integrated into Apple's 'Book Store'
The tablet will be good enough to finally make using this type of content a pleasure.
This is BIGGER than music in the long run...
I have to say this would get me buying a tablet if the display and touch-tech is sexy enough.
1) Book Builder (with animated graphic inserts)
2) Magazine & Newspaper Builder (full embedded Ad framework, video, motion graphics and audio. Monthly subs right from your iTunes account)
3) Catalogue builder (integrated shopping cart for mail order firms)
4) Academic Library creator - digitised textbooks PURCHASED by UNIVERSITIES and loaded out by certified university students within iTunes
and a ton of Apple things we haven't even thought of all integrated into Apple's 'Book Store'
The tablet will be good enough to finally make using this type of content a pleasure.
This is BIGGER than music in the long run...
I have to say this would get me buying a tablet if the display and touch-tech is sexy enough.
I really would like to see a Netflix style system for books. This is why I haven't jumped to get a Kindle. Yes, there are a few books that I want to own, but mostly, I just read and then donate the book. I'd pay a monthly fee to get ebooks "loaned" to the device.
The problem is that often the "predetermined criteria" is "doesn't compete with us" (euphemistically: "doesn't replicate existing functionality and confuse users.") I don't think we want to be in a situation where Apple controls the ebook market the way they control music.
How is this relevant to my question? Apple doesn't yet offer its own book store.