I’ve already visited this subject twice on Brad’s Reader. The first was back in 2007 in my post Advertising in Books: Will it Work? and again in 2009 Ads in ebooks – Coming to an eReader near you. Notice that my thinking on this does shift from post to post.

According to this Mediabistro post, the Wall Street Journal is already speculating that ads just might help publishers get some of their mojo back when publishing ebooks:

The Wall Street Journal reports: “In short, physical books can’t compete with other print media for advertisers. Digital books can. With an integrated system, an advertiser or publisher can place ads across multiple titles to generate a sufficient volume. Timeliness is also possible, since digital readers require users to log in to a central system periodically.”

The article continues:

The Wall Street Journal reports on what these ads might look like: “For consumers, the free samples of digital books now available would surely include ads. Because not every consumer who reads a sample chapter will buy the book, it’s reasonable for the publisher to extract some additional value. Seeing ads in the sample may also convince a reader to pay for a premium, non-ad version of the full-length book. The old market segmentation of paperbacks and hardcovers will be replaced by ad-supported or ad-free books.”

I will say that if publishers do start inserting ads into ebooks, the ebook prices better remain lower than $10. Otherwise, they’ll just be shooting themselves in the foot, again.

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A recent post from my favorite ebook blog, Teleread, summed up pretty well why the iPad makes a horrible ebook reader:

The machine is far too heavy to hold for any length of time. It is also very slippery which means that you have to read with it in a case, which, in turn, just adds to its bulk and weight. Also, while I have no trouble reading for extended periods from my iPhone, the iPad has just too much glare for prolonged use. I get sick of reading black text on a white background to cut the glare. More: its pretty much useless outside (I use my Kindle there); I’ll never buy books from the iBookstore and I rarely read comics – at least electronically.

The glare issue alone is a big one. Many of use already strain our eyes too much sitting in front of our computers. Why add the extra strain to your eyes? Dedicated e-readers are designed to read like a print book with minimal strain on the eyes. I can read for extended periods on my Sony Reader with no problems.

Weight is another consideration. During my brief time playing with the iPad at the Apple store, the heftiness of the device is quite noticeable. Trying to get comfortable holding it would be a definite challenge. If you prop up the iPad on a pillow or on your lap then this isn’t a problem.

But if you plan on holding the device while you read, your arms will bulk up with some much-needed muscle (especially for us nerdish types who don’t get a lot of exercise to begin with). In other words, your arms are gonna hurt.

Battery Life is Lacking

An issue that doesn’t get a lot of attention is the battery life. According to Apple, the iPad’s battery life includes 10 hours of surfing the web on WiFi, listening to music and watching video.

By comparison, the Amazon Kindle (aff link) touts a full month of battery power with the wireless turned off and 10 days with the wireless on. That’s a huge difference.

Battery life is especially important for people who travel a lot, or for those who are always on-the-go. If you do a lot of flying, you gotta figure you’re going to use the iPad for more than just reading. You will probably listen to music and maybe even watch a video or two. Both will drain the battery life fairly quickly, not leaving a lot of time for reading ebooks.

However, if you’re traveling with a Kindle or Nook, you will be able to read all you want, even on an international flight.

It’s All About Compromise

Obviously, with the iPad you have a multi-use device. With the Kindle or Nook, you’re going to have to carry something else for your internet surfing, music listening and video watching.

For serious readers, the iPad is the wrong device. It’s too expensive and packs way too many features for someone who just wants to read a good ebook.

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After placing my order I sat down at a table and pulled out my Amazon Kindle.

I barely made it a sentence into the e-book I was reading before an employee of the coffee shop came by, stood over me and said, “Excuse me sir, but we don’t allow computers in the coffee shop.”

I looked up at him with an incredulous look and replied, “This isn’t a computer, it’s an e-book reader.”

Surprisingly, the employee makes this argument:

He then told me that the “device” in my hand had a screen and required batteries, so it was obviously “some variation of a computer.” The coffee shop, I was told, did not allow the use of computers.

The basic argument these coffee shops make is that people buy a latte, then sit at a large table with their entire “office” spread out and sit there for 5 hours doing work.

For something like that, I can understand coffee shops not wanting people to take up a lot of room doing work on their laptop (or other digital device), when there are other customers looking for a place to sit.

However, not allowing devices like the Kindle and Nook in the shop because they are “some variation of a computer” is just ridiculous. It’s not unreasonable for someone to sit in a cafe’ for an hour or so, sipping a latte and reading a book.

My question to the coffee shops that implement this policy: What’s the difference between reading a print book and a digital one? Not much.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter @bradvertrees for regular updates and musings.

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About a month ago, B&N lowered the price of the Nook 3G + WiFi to $199 from $259. They followed that by releasing a WiFi-only version of Nook for $149. Amazon quickly followed by lowering the price of their Kindle 2 to $189. Now, they have announced a WiFi-only Kindle that will retail for $139.

Why Amazon insists on keeping the Kindle only $10 lower than the Nook is beyond me. Maybe that’s as low as they can go and still make a healthy profit on the device. Or maybe Amazon did some research and found that a $10 difference has a big psychological effect on consumers.

I also wonder if Amazon was taken by surprise by the $149 Nook WiFi and had to scramble to get a similar Kindle onto the market. Or, if they had the Kindle WiFi already in the pipeline and maybe sped up production in response to B&N’s  strategic move to undercut Amazon. Perhaps we’ll never know the answer to these questions.

Obviously, these price wars only benefit the consumer. We now have a choice between two reasonably priced ereaders from two major ebook retailers. This will surely entice people to seriously consider ebooks as a viable option because it no longer requires a big investment to enter the world of ebooks.

Also, it appears that both Amazon and B&N are setting the stage for the coming holiday season, which will no doubt see the ereader market explode like it never has before. I wonder what else these two companies have planned for us.

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In a recent press release, Amazon.com claims to have sold 180 ebooks for every 100 hardcover editions sold in the last month. As a self-described “ebook evangalist” I’m thrilled that ebooks are becoming a larger part of overall books sales. But I’m also skeptical of Amazon’s claims.

In the press release, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos puts these numbers into perspective:

“We’ve reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle–the growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price from $259 to $189,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “In addition, even while our hardcover sales continue to grow, the Kindle format has now overtaken the hardcover format. Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books–astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months.”

I have always maintained that print books are here to stay for a very long time, ebooks are also here to stay and not just another fad.

However, I am skeptical whenever Amazon presents such number regarding their ebook sales. Amazon is notorious for staying tight-lipped about their Kindle sales numbers. Ebook blog Teleread asked some serious questions regarding Amazon’s claims.

Apart from nobody really knowing what “growth” means, Carnoy wonders about revenues now that Amazon is forced to conform to agency pricing for 5 out of the big 6 publishers. He wonders how many of those “growth” titles are self-published e-books, many of which cost well under $5. Is Amazon gaining or losing e-book market share overall? How are specific genres, such as romance, doing?

The point here is that Amazon will spin their numbers to their advantage and to meet the needs of their agenda – sell more ebooks.

While I, more than anyone, want to see ebooks succeed, I also want companies such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble to give us an honest assessment of just how well ebooks are doing.

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All those reasons are very superficial.

Ebooks, just like printed books, are only the medium that the content reaches us. The story and characters do not change if you read a novel in ebook format as opposed to print. The only difference is that you’re reading on a screen rather than paper.

I’ll admit, I love the printed book as much as everyone else. I have a large collection of books that I just can’t seem to get rid of – including a small collection of autographed copies. I still buy print books and I still read them, I’m just not going to reject ebooks simply because they are not in printed format.

When I bought my Sony Reader back in 2007, it took some getting used to. There is a certain novelty to reading ebooks that can be distracting. That novelty quickly wears off though. Before I even finished reading my first book on my Sony Reader, I had forgotten I was reading an ebook because I was so absorbed in the novel.

I think that these superficial reason people use to resist ebooks will start to fade, especially as the technology improves and the prices of e-readers goes down. As the popular Star Trek quote goes: Resistance is futile.

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Well, I’m wrong. It appears that ebook readers are a little older, at least according to one article.

Risa Becker, vice president of research operations for GfK MRI, reports on a survey released in May: “We’re not finding the more-mature trend, and only a very slight tendency for men to own e-readers more than women.” Yet for certain readers, such as the Kindle, early users are more frequently female. Smythe said, “We’re seeing a greater percentage of women than men; a lot of women are taking to this.”

Becker said, “Women were 11 percent more likely than men to say they read an e-book, and men were 20 percent more likely to have read a magazine and 19 percent more likely to have read a newspaper.”

E-book users, Becker said, tend to earn more than $100,000 a year, be college-educated, and be very Web and social-media savvy: “These people do everything on the Web. They spend more than 20 hours a week on it.”

The article also says that up to 66% (depending on which study you look at) of ebook readers are over the age of 40. My first guess as to way ebook readers are a little older is because the younger crowd (those in their 20s and early 30s) simply don’t read all that much. But I could be missing the mark on this one as well.

Are you surprised by the above numbers? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Of course, I find it strange both decided to lower their prices after Father’s Day, especially considering how both Amazon and B&N went on an advertising blitz that marketed their respective e-readers as the perfect gift for dads. I wonder how many of these dads who did receive an e-reader will be slightly annoyed that their loved ones overpaid for their new toy.

What do these lower prices mean?

I think these lower prices do mean a couple of things:

1. Price wars: The major players in the e-reader industry are trying to grab a bigger share of the market. The old price of $259 for both the Kindle and Nook seemed a little high for a lot of would-be consumers. I think setting their prices below $200 will entice more people to buy, especially those who are on the fence.

2. New hardware upgrade coming soon: If history is any indication, companies usually start lowering the prices on their current gadgets when a new, upgraded and more expensive version is on the horizon. I’m will to bet that by the holiday season we’ll see an upgraded Nook and Kindle.

3. Competing with Apple’s iPad: We can’t ignore the iPad, even thought it’s not a dedicated ebook reader. The only way that Barnes & Noble and Amazon can really compete with Apple is by offering an alternative that won’t break the bank for most consumers (as much as I love the iPad, it’s a little too expensive for me right now).

There are many more ways to interpret these lower prices, but I think the above are the top three. Furthermore, my prediction is that e-readers will be like the Walkman, which sold for well over $100 when they made their first debut in 1979.  As the technology improved, the price dropped.

Overall, this new price war is great for ebook consumers. It will also bring in newbies to the ebook world who were originally put off by high prices. The only thing really holding ebooks back is the lack of a standard format. People want flexibility with their purchases, not locked into a DRM scheme.

What do you think about the lower prices on e-readers? Will this persuade you to purchase one if you already haven’t? Share you thoughts in the comment section below.

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On July 2 Borders will begin selling 2 more ebook readers. I grabbed some information from the small display and decided to present it here to compare both readers and what they off to you.

Libre eBook Reader Pro

• Price: $119.99
• 5″ diagonal screen (using Monochrome Reflective Light LCD technology)
• 256MB built-in memory (expands to 32GB)
• Supports MP3 files
• Supports TXT, FB2, ePub, MOBI (non-DRM only), PRC, RTF
• Built-in Lithium ion battery (24 hours continuous reading, 2 weeks standby time)
• Syncs to your Mac or PC

Kobo eReader

• Price: $149.99
• 6″ display (e-ink technology)
• 1GB internal memory (expands to 4GB)
• Supports ePub, PDF, Adobe DRM
• Battery remains charged for 2 weeks (or 8,000 page turns)
• “Sync ‘N’ Read” using Borders Desktop App

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems you get more for less with the Libre eBook Reader Pro. The Libre supports more formats (including MP3), and can expand to a whopping 32GB memory. On the other hand, the Kobo has a slightly larger reading screen and uses e-ink technology, whereas the Libre uses and LCD-type screen.

My biggest gripe about most e-readers on the market is that they continue to use a built-in battery that is not user-replaceable. For those of us who read a lot and are continuously charging and draining our devices, this can become a serious issue when the battery eventually peters out. The only exception to this is the Barnes & Noble Nook, which does have a user-replaceable battery.

However, I’m thrilled to see 2 more ebook readers hitting the US market that will be easily accessible to the buying public. The competition among manufacturers only benefits the consumer with lower prices and better technology, which equals an improved reading experience.

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble is releasing a WiFi-only Nook for $149. They are also lowering the price of their WiFI + 3G Nook to $199 (down from $259). Check out their website for more details.

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Ars Technica points out that this is only a theory, and there is no way to tell for sure what is responsible for keeping the the Que and Skiff from entering the market.

It was always going to be very difficult for these commoditized products to differentiate themselves from each other, and the fact that they’ll now be competing for whatever is left of the e-reader market after Apple takes its chunk may have been the last straw for some would-be entrants.

No one can deny that Apple’s iPad has had a huge impact in many areas of the tech market, with ebooks being one of them. But as Ars says, we can’t say for sure whether or not the iPad derailed these other products.

In my earlier post Apple’s Growing Share of the Ebook Market I argued that Apple is mainly interested in selling their iPad and family of iPhones and the iPod Touch:

If Apple was determined to take as much of the ebook market as possible, then they’d block out all other ebook apps on the iPad. But they haven’t. This tells me Apple isn’t so much worried about where users are buying their ebooks from, as long as they’re reading them on an Apple device.

I basically say that because Apple is letting apps such as the Kindle and Barnes & Noble ebook readers onto their devices, they can’t be entirely too concerned about selling a lot of ebooks through their own iBookstore.

Two Different Devices, Two Very Different Purposes

The way I see it, is the iPad and dedicated e-readers are for two very different market segments. The iPad is for those who want a multi-use device that can surf the web, play games, create/edit documents and the like. Yes, the iPad does offer a great ebook reading experience (one I detail in my post 5 Minutes with the iPad), but no one is going to buy an iPad for the sole purpose of reading ebooks.

Dedicated e-readers, on the other hand, are for voracious readers who want to carry the library with them and have easy access to an ebookstore. These users aren’t too concerned about playing games or surfing the internet. They want to read. Yes, the iPad allows users to carry their library with them and so forth, but the price of the device is going to bump a lot of consumers to the dedicated e-reader market.

iPad Probably not Hurting Dedicated E-Reader Market

So in my humble opinion, I don’t think the iPad is hurting the e-reader market. Whatever the problems Plastic Logic and Sprint/Hearst are having getting their respective devices to the market are probably due to other factors.

On the same token, I think that companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble are going to have to drastically lower their e-reader prices, or offer a cheaper alternative that can draw in consumers who just want to read ebooks without the bells and whistles that the iPad touts.

What do you think? Is the iPad cannibalizing the ebook market? Share your opinion below and leave a comment.

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