Kindle changing the world; iPod Touch changing its size?
A pair of articles in different places this week offer looks at different e-book reading solutions of the present or near-future: the popularity of the Kindle, and the possibility of a tablet-sized iPod Touch. But those considering a reading device of any kind may wish to wait and see what comes out o Apple in June.
Kindle as Book End
In Slate, Jacob Weisberg ponders “How the Kindle will change the world.” In short, he finds the Kindle so amazingly book-like in its readability and better-than-book-like in other aspects that he sees it replacing the printed book in many situations. He worries that Amazon might become a monopoly power as “the only publisher a best-selling author needs.”
In a world without the high fixed costs of printing and distribution, as the distance between writers and their audiences shrinks, what essential service will Random House and Simon & Schuster provide? If the answer is primarily cultural arbitration and editing, the publishing behemoths might dwindle while a much lighter weight model of publishing—clever kids working from coffee shops in Brooklyn—emerges.
It is tempting to take Weisberg to task for casting Amazon as the only publisher of e-books worth considering, forgetting about all the others out there like Fictionwise and eReader. But when you think about it, it is hard to blame him.
Whether you love or hate the way the company has done it, Amazon has done a lot more than anyone else so far to make e-books (or at least, the dedicated devices the public generally perceives as e-books) accessible and popular to the average person. And they have the advantage of Amazon’s already considerable popularity behind them. It is troubling that Amazon’s monopolistic, walled-garden stance toward its reader suggests Weisberg’s prediction has a fair chance of coming true.
Yet Another iPhone Tablet Prognostication
Rex Hammock, Founder/CEO of the content marketing and media firm Hammock Inc., has posted a “guessay” to his blog in which he predicts that an iPod Touch tablet, with an 8”x10” display, will finally materialize this year.
There is nothing new about this prediction, of course—many people (including Hammock) have been predicting such a thing ever since the iPhone first hit the streets. But there have been some more specific rumors popping up lately, such as Apple apparently ordering large touch-panels from Chinese company Wintek, that suggest that this may be the year in which it finally comes true.
Hammock is not afraid to get more specific than that. In bold type, he predicts, “Within the next 45 days, not later than May 1, Apple will unveil […] an oversized iPod Touch.” He predicts it will work the same as a Touch, rather than being an e-book reader like the Kindle or a fully-open computing device like a netbook. “The rumored 8×10″ screen means the full device will have dimensions extremely close to the size of a standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper.”
He expects the device to be priced at no more than $500, and marketed first toward university students as a note-taking gizmo and multimedia textbook. It will not “compete with” the Kindle, but through the iPhone Kindle Reader app will allow Amazon to sell more Kindle e-books than ever before. (One hopes that the Kindle app’s user interface will be considerably improved by then.)
As if those predictions were not enough, he also predicts that Steve Jobs will personally announce the product.
Signs that Might Be Omens
Whether an iPod Touch tablet is on the way or not, all signs point to something being on the way for June. MacRumors’s buyers guide warns that a product-line refresh is in the offing, and phone companies the world over have begun to reduce their inventories.
AT&T has offered contract-free pricing on iPhone 3Gs (starting at $599), for people who do not want to have to sell their soul to the Death Star for two more years, and have also started selling refurbished iPhone 3Gs for $149.99 (8-gig) or $249.99 (16-gig) with contract.
British carrier O2 has even started giving iPhones away (as long as the customer is willing to commit to paying the equivalent of $90 a month for 18 months), as has Japanese carrier Softbank.
Those who are looking at buying an iPhone or iPod Touch as a cheap e-reading tool might want to hold off until they see what June brings. Even if the new devices are too expensive, they will surely cause price drops in the refurbished older ones as well.
I personally hope that a 32-gigabyte iPhone will finally be announced this year—though I have no particular reason to expect such a thing. It would make switching from my iPod Touch to an iPhone easier.
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