BurkPhoto

Why Amazon Isn't Worried About iPhone's Kindle

The Kindle is great for what it is. My sister loves hers. But the iPhone and iPod Touch are multi-purpose devices. Last I checked, they can be any of about 85,000 different things, in addition to a book reader. So which would you rather carry around all day?

Okay, so they're a bit small, the iPhone sucks batteries dead in a few hours, and the Touch does, too. But you can use either while you charge, and you can charge in your car or at your desk or anywhere there's an outlet. Various third party battery solutions are also available.

Then there's the screen size. Despite the fact that these gizmos have the sharpest, best screens on the market for their size, they are still small, and no amount of pinch and spread touch gesturing to reduce and enlarge the image is going to make up for that when reading Gone With the Wind.

Beyond the iPhone and the iPod Touch, then, most of us who follow Apple expect them to release a product somewhere between those items and a MacBook in its design scope. Call it iPad, or iTab(let), or whatever, and hope it's a general purpose computing device as well. With a 7 to 10 inch touch screen, it could be about perfect for use as a reader, and as all 85,000+ other things the earlier devices can be as well.

I'd look for Apple to release such a device some time in the next three to five months, hopefully in time for the holidays. They're building a huge, honkin' data center in North Carolina to serve up content for something... I'd bet it's for this sort of device, among others.

E-Reader Wars Heating Up: Apple May Have Edge with Younger Generations

Apple will revolutionize this space. They're building a HUGE facility here in NC to serve data. They have the ecosystem in place with iTunes and the App Store. They are building a seamlessly scaled platform with OS X. At some point, they are going to OWN content provision in this country.

If you haven't spent 15 minutes or an hour in an Apple store, you owe it to yourself to see what the buzz is about. If you haven't spent 15 minutes playing with an iPhone 3GS or the new iPod Touch, go play with one. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

This is a company with an extremely long view and an extremely wholistic approach. They want their customers to move easily from one of their products to another, and to be able to use any of them instinctively. They are ALL ABOUT the consumer experience with electronics. When you use their systems, you concentrate on the task, not the tech.

Watch what happens with this company in the next six months. It will be amazing, and I'm not just talking about the financial performance or the stock price...

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

It's long rumored because it takes Apple a measured amount of time to put all the pieces in place. They will release it when the ecosystem to support it is ready.

If all it took was hardware, we could have had *some* sort of hardware, oh, two years ago?

There's the network question... Will it be data only? Whose network? Then there's the OS question... How much does Snow Leopard have to do with the tablet, and vice-versa? Then there's the battery life issue... related to the processor issue (Atom? ARM? Something entirely new?)

But above all those things, how is it positioned for success? Is there content lined up for it? Does the App Store work with it? Are developers ready with wares for it? Are major newspapers and magazines and publishing houses and others on board?

On Jul 26 04:53 PM evanz wrote:

> Let's see if I can sum this up. The long rumored Apple tablet is
> not a phone. It's not a computer. It's not an e-reader. What exactly
> are we all so excited about here? Think about it this way...will
> this device replace the need for a phone? No. The need for a computer?
> No. There is, afterall, a reason the tablet is "long rumored".

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

The significance of the App Store and its 65,000+ titles and 1.5 billion sales to date is not (yet) revenue for applications (unless you're a developer of a megahit title!). It is the success of that marketing ecosystem in enhancing the utility of the iPhone and iPod Touch to levels way beyond those of competitive devices.

It's not just a phone, folks! It's a fully functioning communications computer in your pocket. It's already way beyond the "Dick Tracy Two Way Wrist TV" we saw in the 1960s comics... With video capture and editing, still camera with image database, phone with interactive directory, GPS, compass, gaming, email, chat, online shopping, Internet radio and music downloads, etc. ad nauseam, it is a wild fantasy granted reality status. Who wouldn't want one?

So when Apple makes it bigger, it will just have a whole range of additional uses that replace print.

The significance of the App Store is that it makes the iPhone/iPod Touch an "iDo Anything" device. Can any of Apple's competitors in the smart phone market claim they're anywhere close to this?





On Jul 25 05:33 PM Michael Comeau wrote:

> I don't understand the excitement over the 1.5 billion app sales.
> The vast majority of them are of the 99-cent variety.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

@ Roger Knights:

The Kindle is very readable, without a backlight. However, I've been using PowerBooks and MacBook Pros since 1994, and I can't say I've ever experienced eye strain or fatigue from the screen. LCD/LED monitors have decent backlight controls on them, so you can limit the brightness to a comfortable level. My wife's iPod Touch has a brightness adjustment on it that lets the user set a comfortable level.


On Jul 25 01:40 AM Roger Knights wrote:

> BurkPhoto wrote:
>
> "Given the high resolution screens on the iPod Touch and the iPhone,
> I'd bet the high res screen on an iTouch Tablet or iPad or whatever
> they'll call it will be high enough res to do the job of virtual
> ink as good as, or better than, the Kindle."
>
> It isn't the lack of resolution that makes long-term (multi-hour)
> reading tiring on the eyes on an iPhone or iTablet, but the backlighting.
> A Kindle's screen isn't backlit, so it is readable without eyestrain
> for long periods of time.
>
> "The Kindle is great, but it's a one-trick pony. Apple will release
> a general purpose device with much greater total utility."
>
> I agree, which is why I said the iTablet will sweep the world, leaving
> only heavy duty readers for the Kindle. (In comments elsewhere on
> the Kindle I've argued that it needs to be more of a general-purpose
> device, and that Bezos's determination not to do so is a huge mistake.)

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

@davesmall:

Thanks for the kudos. I'll add that one of the remarkable things about this company is that they don't follow; they lead. They don't play by the "rules"; they make the rules. They know, culturally, the difference between a commodity market and a luxury market, and they choose to play predominately in the latter.

If anyone wants an idea of how good their stuff really is, without buying it, just mosey on over to InfoWorld.com and read Tom Yager's reviews of their hardware. As InfoWorld's Chief Technologist, he knows a thing or two about computers.

That said, if you want to know *first hand* what the Apple experience is like, then first visit the Apple store online, and then visit one of their stores if it's not too far out of the way for you. The experience is not unlike that you would encounter at a Lexus or Mercedes dealer, or Neiman Marcus, or a W hotel, or any top tier vendor of anything.

There really is a difference. They think differently, with strategic vision rather than with a bullying strategy. They think long-term, with grand plans that lead to multiplicative opportunities. In short, don't short them. We ain't seen nuthin' yet, folks!


On Jul 24 02:07 PM davesmall wrote:

> Reply to vloscomp who said, "The key point of this story is the infrastructure
> that will allow mobile devices (not just APPL devices) to connect
> to the internet. I am so happy that you chumps had been cheering
> APPL for the last 24 months, but it is time (by Oct) for me to bid
> adew to APPL. Device technology have been competitive market (ie
> US Robotics 56K modems, HP Calculators ...) and the shelf life of
> a device is probably about 12 months or less. iTouch has no barrier
> to a competitive "me too", therefore, APPL will see erosion in profit."
>
>
> You obviously don't get the significance of the app store (50,000
> apps and 1.5 Billion downloads in just one year); integration with
> iTunes including wireless downloads, and the elegance of Apple's
> user friendly designs. Sure they're going to be copied. Microsoft
> built their business on copying. But betting against Apple is high
> risk investing to say the least. Read BurkPhoto's second post (above).
> He says it very well.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

It's often funny to watch the business media react to Apple, too often without understanding who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Jason, here, absolutely understands them. Apple's wizards are, first and foremost, about innovation, quality, user experience, and change agency.

Apple creates or relies upon confluences of events in the technological realm to meld various concepts together in new and meaningful ways. They are able to think and act multidimensionally, so that their products and services make sense, solve problems, improve life, and "just work." It's entirely likely that the forthcoming product will change our lives and our industries in ways most people can't even begin to imagine, but the folks at Apple have dreamed of these things for many years.

When someone at Apple pooh-poohs an existing product such as a netbook as "not worth their time," they really mean that they're working on something else that is worth their time! Given their track record (Apple II, Macintosh, Apple Store (retail), Apple Store (online), iPod, iTunes, iPhone, App Store...), would you doubt them? Would you expect less? They set the standards for the rest of the industry to follow. There are LOTS of people at cell phone manufacturers and service providers who are very worried about Apple's next moves right now. For consumers, that is a VERY GOOD THING.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

Oh, please, you haven't even seen this device yet! Given the high resolution screens on the iPod Touch and the iPhone, I'd bet the high res screen on an iTouch Tablet or iPad or whatever they'll call it will be high enough res to do the job of virtual ink as good as, or better than, the Kindle. The Kindle is great, but it's a one-trick pony. Apple will release a general purpose device with much greater total utility.


On Jul 24 09:09 AM Roger Knights wrote:

> I agree that the iTablet will sweep the world and become the default
> e-book reader for most readers. But for heavy readers, the Kindle
> is better, because its e-ink is easier to read for long stretches
> and because there is no battery drain except when turning a page.
> I think it will continue to sell well.