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No surprise here. I have always wondered what were they doing when they came up with the term "kindle" for their reader. iPad is a good solid name, good for lots of jokes (read free advertising) and has a huge app store behind it. Still playing a game to get one on the launch day but not be a schmuck in line.
 
I don't view it as free. They are recovering the cost in the price of the book.

Definitely true, but it is only relevant if the cost per book is greater via Amazon than from the ibookstore. If the prices are the same, then to the consumer the Kindle 3G is functionally free.
 
So the people in 7-12 month spot, does this mean people waiting for rev 2 or are they just the consumers Apple loves who go out and buy the product the day before the new version comes out?

No they are the people who wait for many of the version 1.0 arrows to be shot into the back of the gadget freaks who have to have it before everyone else for bragging rights. By 7 months at least one "fix" will have come out. Same folks who skip 10.6.0 and 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 waiting for the stable version that reflects some of the defects that the release launch missed.

Similarly the hardware glitches ( premature battery death, cooked graphics processors , etc. ) tends not to show up for the first 6 months.
Even if they do Apple will go into denial mode for several months before have a fix.

The above two are just evidence of experienced tech buyers. ( yellow iMacs , playback on MacPro fix, significant patches for 10.6 , etc. only recent example to illustrate that Apple is not exempt. )



They are also compromised of the folks who save up for something before they buy it. ( instead of floating yet another on a long list of gadgets onto their credit). Likewise may be the right timing on the hardware renewal cycle.


By 7 months device likely will have multiple creditable reviews of people who have actually used it for a non-minuscule amount of time. Likewise also should be significant software available that isn't a crude Touch port. It is the software that will drive this. Hastily ported Touch ports aren't going to be the primary drivers longer term. The majority of developers aren't going to have hardware for a couple of months.


Like the iPhone/Touch it is likely that at the 12 month point there will be multiple generations on the market at the same time. This "tired and true, but cheaper" year n model and the year n+1 model with more "stuff" but the higher price.

If put something off for a couple months and still find that seriously need the device... then probably do. The folks who buy "i gotta have it now" are being driven by impulsing buying.
 
-The iPad will be "nice" for college textbooks but you will see no savings from this. The ebooks for college books are only marginally cheaper than buying the physical book, and you won't have the option of selling the ebook when you're done with it. Also, lots of ebooks for college expire after six months. There are some textbooks that I want after the class because they come in handy. I won't expect the iPad to make a major dent in the college classroom.

-This thing will be great for newspapers, but the demographic of people who read newspapers doesn't match to the demographic of people who'd buy the iPad. The people who are most likely to buy the iPad get their news realtime. Unless WSJ or the WP decides to push out several "papers" per day they won't sell huge via the iPad. Newspapers are a dying business and many expect them to be largely gone in the next 20 years.

-You can't compare to "staring at an LCD screen" all day because you work with computers to reading on an LCD screen. When you're working on a computer your eyes are all over the screen looking at text, pictures, icons, and different windows with different levels of brightness. Read the below link for 30 minutes without any breaks. Bonus points if you're able to do it in a dark room.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-8.txt

I think the jumbo iPhone is a good hardware device, but its main focus shouldn't be reading because I think the Kindle is far better at being an e-reader. Now get me a device that can go between eink and a normal screen and we're talking.
 
Having read several lengthy novels on my iPod touch (thank you, Stanza), I can tell you that it is very possible to enjoyably read a book on this type of screen. Bigger is better, of course, so the iPad is where I'll be reading my books from now on.

I still wonder about this. I have read about 20 novels on my iPhone and have gotten quite used to it. In fact, at night, I prefer it to a book because I can read in bed and not disturb my wife. Now, that said, do I want to read from anything bigger than an iPhone. I can one-hand an iPhone and read. If I'm laying on my back, am I going to want to now use 2 hands to read a book. I have become so used to reading from my iPhone, I wonder if the iPad won't be cumbersome to read from?
 
Does this poll take into account that a lot folks already have a Kindle? Because since I have a Kindle, I wouldn't buy one in the next 90 days… if I did choose to buy an ebook reader, it would be an iPad because I already have a Kindle, not because I'm choosing one over the other.
 
I wonder if people will not like the LCD to read on. It kills my eyes, I'd rather have something like the Pixel Qi screen.

For now: e-ink FTW

I take it you've got a lot of experience reading on devices with a Pixel Qi screen, and lots of experience reading on the iPad as well. Or could it be that you criticise an unreleased product because of faults that so far can only exist in your imagination?
 
I own a Kindle 2 and I use it almost every single day. The iPad may be better at viewing magazines and newspaper possibly in competition with the Kindle DX reader however, I doubt I will be holding an iPad for long term reading it is just too big and heavy.

I will buy an iPad but not for reading books.

I still do not believe these numbers will pan out. Kindle is a book reader and nothing more. E-ink does not cause eye strain. Eye strain on back lit displays is very real. I suffer from that every single day after 9 hours of reading on LCD back lit screen. I could never do 2 or three more hours on a back lit screen. E-ink solves that problem for me.

-Linda :cool:

1.5 pounds heavy? Really?
 
I wonder if people will not like the LCD to read on. It kills my eyes, I'd rather have something like the Pixel Qi screen.

For now: e-ink FTW

I read an article (yahoo news I think) that said recent studies say that the claim that eInk is less tiring to the eyes is misleading. In a well lit room eInk does reduce eyestrain – however, in bright sunlight good ole’ ink and paper does the best job of reducing eyestrain, AND in poor lighting backlit LED screens do the best job of reducing eyestrain! Like many people I pleasure read in bed with a small light on the nightstand so for people like us the iPad will do better than anything with eInk.
 
Does this poll take into account that a lot folks already have a Kindle? Because since I have a Kindle, I wouldn't buy one in the next 90 days… if I did choose to buy an ebook reader, it would be an iPad because I already have a Kindle, not because I'm choosing one over the other.
A lot of folks? Are you serious? I have only seen a Kindle in the wild. My son in law got one as a gift. I looked at it a bit, was not impressed. He put it on eBay. To me a lot of folks have iPhones. Everywhere I go. How many Kindles have been sold. How many of those are the big ones? Maybe a million or so? The iPad will sell a million in the first month even without 3G.
 
I really wasn't one of those who think that reading of an LCD feels particularly bad. But I really got into 'House of Leaves' a couple of weeks ago. I read almost half of it from a PDF scan. I ended up buying the book because it's just too damn good, but I have to be honest, reading 4-5h from a LCD really killed me, even though I already spend a lot of time in my computer.

For me the difference is mainly that when you are on your computer you are focusing on different things, different backgrounds, colors, etc. I guess it's my particular case, I'm thinking on getting an iPad (or the Acer netbook/tablet that was announced this week I think), but not particularly for book reading.
 
Aaaah even it gets 35% of the market share, people are still not gonna like it! lol.. its a bit far fetched to predict the market share of a yet to be released item!

aaah well.

PTP
 
The survey talks specifically about hardware, not services. So, it does seem to be expected. Amazon has had the iPhone Kindle App on the App Store for a while now. I use to have a Kindle, but I sold it and use the Kindle App now. Presumably (unless Apple outright bans the app), people will still be able to use that Kindle App on the iPad as well. Recently Amazon added Kindle support for the Blackberry and the PC. And Amazon already announced future Kindle support for the Mac. And I'm sure Android will get a Kindle App eventually, as well as other devices. As Amazon increases their service to more platforms, it isn't too surprising that people would become less and less interested in the Kindle hardware device itself.
 
And I'm sure Android will get a Kindle App eventually, as well as other devices. As Amazon increases their service to more platforms, it isn't too surprising that people would become less and less interested in the Kindle hardware device itself.
A bit OT, but I do hope Android does get it; however, I have some doubts it would get it because the rival Nook is running is Android based, and other rival the Spring Alex is running a full version of Android(with a color lower screen and e-ink top screen).

Not sure really how iPad will bode as an e-reader, but I guess I can see people using this in their kitchen and living room instead of taking their laptop with less worry.
 
So 40% of e-reader buyers say they will buy an iPad over other e-readers, despite not having seen one for real yet, or tried iBooks for themselves, or found out what the price difference and availability for ebooks might be, or how locked down the ebooks are. Sounds like a meaningful survey.
 
So 40% of e-reader buyers say they will buy an iPad over other e-readers, despite not having seen one for real yet, or tried iBooks for themselves, or found out what the price difference and availability for ebooks might be, or how locked down the ebooks are. Sounds like a meaningful survey.

Until it is released, any useful information will be absent. Just look at all of the archived forums here about the original iPod.
 
So 40% of e-reader buyers say they will buy an iPad over other e-readers, despite not having seen one for real yet, or tried iBooks for themselves, or found out what the price difference and availability for ebooks might be, or how locked down the ebooks are. Sounds like a meaningful survey.

It's Apple. There's a lot of expectation and anticipation involved. People are going on Apple's track record, which is pretty damn good.

For me, the keynote and demo video were quite enough. If you're well-acquainted with Apple products the potential of the iPad should be obvious.
 
Good Lord, how did this thread get this long without someone saying something terminally stupid? Thanks guys and gals!

I don't plan on getting an iPad because of the name. In some countries, that would be pornographic. I don't want people from Iran to come to Oklahoma and kill me because I have a pornographically named device.


Was that terminally stupid enough for you? Just trying to help.

:)
 
Most people

really....the input here is fun....the surveys involved "normal people".

We, that read or write in this forum, don't fall in the category of "normal people" as it relates to Apple Products. We are zealots and good for us. We love or hate the products and thats ok too. What everyone, well most, are missing is that these are surveys of the market that we are a VERY small percentage of... and the survey is accurate. Relax, nobody has one yet, at least the"normal people" dont, so lets wait and see.


I'm 60, left the "Dark Side" in March of 2009. If Stevie makes it, I own it.:D And i mean all of the products.
 
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