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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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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One of my favorite parts of what Electric Literature does is taking a single sentence from a short story they publish, and then animating it. The result is an illuminating visual interpretation of that one sentence. In a way, the short cartoons (often less than a minute long) represent how one’s imagination would perceive a particular literary “bit.”

The following is one of my favorite pieces from Electric Literature. It’s simplicity shines a bright light on the sentence, making it more powerful and thought-provoking than it otherwise would be. The sentence comes from the short story Little Things by Matt Sumell.

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That’s a very large chunk. When I see numbers that big I become skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t doubt that Apple is now cutting a large slice of the ebook market pie. Just how much, though, is up for debate.

According to a post by AppleInsider Apple grabs 22% share of the ebook market, Jobs gives some more details:

In the first 65 days, Jobs said users have downloaded more than 5 million books — amounting to 2.5 eBooks for every iPad sold and giving Apple a near-instant 22% slice of the eBook market. Five of the six largest publishers in the world are on board with iBooks, releasing content for the Apple-supported format.

The sixth large publisher to hold out is Random House. Why they are missing the opportunity to have their catalog of books available to iPad users is beyond me.

While Apple claims to have gained 22% of the ebook market, it’ll be interesting to see how long-term trends play out.

iBooks competing with Kindle, B&N and Stanza apps

There is one factor that makes analyzing Apple’s appearance on the ebook stage much more complicated. iPad users aren’t obligated to buy ebooks only from Apple. They can download free ebook reading apps from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, not to mention the very popular Stanza app (which is owned by Amazon). Users can buy ebooks from those respective retailers to download to their iPads.

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.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Beware!

Because Amazon and Barnes & Noble sell both the ebook device and the ebooks, they probably have the most to lose from Apple. It has been widely reported that Amazon loses money on ebooks sales while making a profit from selling their Kindle. I’m assuming the same holds true for B&N.

The problem, as I see it, is that iPad users have so many more choices with regard to where they purchase their ebooks, they can afford to be selective. Users can buy ebooks from any number of ebook retailers based on price, availability and even how ebooks are rendered. It’s even being reported that Apple will start supporting PDFs, something stand-alone ebook readers still struggle with.

My guess is that to survive, Amazon and B&N will need to drastically lower the prices of their ebook devices to stay viable in the long term. As of this writing, both the Kindle 2 and Nook cost $259, a price that works okay now but won’t work in another year or two – especially as Apple drops the price on the iPad when a new generation comes out (like they do with the iPhone).

The good news in all this is that the price of ebook readers will only decrease as the technology improves and more players come onto the market. Great news for ebook fans!

I always still laugh, however, when I see Apple touting iBooks because it was only a few short years ago when Steve Jobs said Apple will never get into the ebook business because no one reads anymore.

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I compiled a list of some of the new important features:

- Forward-facing camera (in addition to the camera on back of phone).

- LED flash on back & front cameras

- Gyroscope (It’ll be interesting to see how app developers take advantage of this nifty new feature).

- iBooks coming to iPhone & ability to read PDF files

- FaceTime video calling that utilizes either camera on iPhone

- The much-asked for multitasking feature (something offered on most other smartphones).

- HD video recording

- Organize apps into different folders.

There are a lot more features, most of them being under-the-hood type of stuff. My biggest interest, of course, is the availability of iBooks for iPhone. Apple is quickly becoming a major player in the ebook market since the introduction of their iPad earlier this year. I have a sinking feeling that iBooks won’t be compatible with my 2G iPhone. I guess that’s my punishment for clinging to old, out-of-date technology.

Apple will start taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 on June 15 and they will ship June 24. You can buy the 16GB for $199 or opt for the 32GB for $299. Both prices are a little high for me right now, and I’m loving not being tethered to an AT&T contract (mine expired last December). But the temptation for Apple’s latest and greatest might be a little too much.

Will you upgrade to the iPhone 4?

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There used to be a time when writers could make a living writing short stories that they sold to magazines (who paid a healthy sum for quality work). F. Scott Fitzgerald financed his novels by writing short fiction, as have other writers.

Today, I think it’d be nearly impossible for a writer to make a living solely on short fiction. But with ebooks now in the mainstream, it’s a lot easier for writers to publish their short stories and for readers to consume them. And publishers are taking notice.

In this recent Wall Street Journal article, publishers Harlequin and Ballantine Books are making plans to use short fiction as a way of getting readers enticed to buy and read longer novels. Or, as the article says, the shorter works will be used as “bridges.”

Thriller writer Steve Berry will have a short story released that will tie in with an upcoming novel:

Separately, Ballantine Books, an imprint of Bertelsmann AG’s Random House Inc. publishing arm, plans to publish in September a digital short story, priced at $1.99, from thriller writer Steve Berry.

The article continues:

The 6,000-word piece, “The Balkan Escape,” is too short to have been published as a paperback original. In effect, it is a literary appetizer, inexpensive enough to attract potential readers who might otherwise not be willing to buy a new novel from an author whose works they haven’t yet read, said Mr. Berry.

I love that term “literary appetizer.” Even standalone short stories that aren’t tied into a novel can also be a literary appetizer for the simple fact that they are a great way to familiarize a reader with a particular author’s work without investing the time and money in reading a full-length novel. Mr. Berry does note that his short story can be read independently of his novels.

Because ebooks cost less to publish than print, and authors can easily self-publish their own ebooks, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the near future. Short fiction is the perfect bite-sized literary “snack.” Instead of spending a lot of time reading a novel, one can read an entire short story in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, for example.

Matt Schwartz, president of digital marketing and strategy at Random House, seems to agree:

Although many publishers remain concerned that low e-book prices could one day lead to lower prices for physical books, Mr. Schwartz said that the digital work’s $1.99 price is justified because the work is a short story. “It’s the equivalent of buying a couple of songs online,” he said. “You can read it in 30 minutes.”

He’s right. I’ve bought several short stories from Smashwords (aff link) by indie authors and have enjoyed reading them on my iPhone.

Large publishers should not be afraid of short fiction. It’s a relatively small investment and they can use these stories as a marketing tool for the authors. On the flip side, indie authors can use short fiction to garner more exposure for themselves.

Short fiction has been, and continues to be, one of my favorite literary forms. I’m very optimistic we’ll see a short story renaissance hit the literary community.

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