

Cringely: Apple and the future of publishing - hernan7
http://www.cringely.com/2009/10/apple-and-the-future-of-publishing-%E2%80%93-part-one/

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zandorg
So Amazon invents the Kindle, starts this thing off, and somehow it's okay for
Apple to barge in with their monopolistic bullshit?

I think Amazon knows a little bit more about books than Apple, so I predict
Apple won't steal a dime from Amazon.

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jsz0
Of course it's ok. It's a free market. There are at least half a dozen
different companies I know of producing e-book readers. What would preclude
Apple from competing? They don't have a monopoly on publishing or any other
conflict of interest. They are quite well known for producing good consumer
electronics devices so it does seem like a natural market for them to enter.
Amazon isn't exactly a saint either -- the Kindle is a DRM-ed closed platform
just like Apple's product would likely be.

As far as Amazon's success goes I'd say they're in good shape to compete with
Apple toe-to-toe in digital publishing / e-book readers. Their only limitation
may be the inability to offer a richer platform. The Kindle is pretty limited
to just an e-book reader with tie-ins to the Amazon store. Apple would likely
offer a device with a color screen, full audio/video playback, almost
certainly a third party App Store. That might be more appealing to a
mainstream audience that wouldn't spend $250 for a device that is exclusively
an e-book reader. Amazon could easily adopt Android and beef up the Kindle
into more of a general purpose platform. Competition is good.

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zandorg
Well my major complaint is that everyone goes "Why doesn't the Kindle have
colour or a touchscreen?" when the answer is: "Because it's e-ink and it's
really pleasant on the eye, and is black and white because that's what it is,
and it's not a touchscreen because it's not possible with e-ink". Basically,
e-ink is far better than LCD's, so any device with an LCD is missing the whole
point of the Kindle.

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jsz0
E-Ink is great for e-books but I suspect a lot of folks, the ones who rarely
read books, would prefer e-magazines, e-comic books, e-manga and web content
in which case a color screen is very important. There's plenty of room for
both but I suspect the more casual, multi-pupose approach, will end up being a
bigger market.

