iPad Would Not Kill Kindle

Like most such competing trends, iPad book readers and the original eBook reader the Kindle will continue to be in existence for a while. What happens for the longterm is something to watch for. The referenced report from Forrester has some data and predictions on both. 


Tablets are set to grow 130% to 24 million units in 2011 compared to 10. 3 million in 2010. 8.5 million of the tablets last year should be just one brand the iPad! This year though a lot many others are going to take a share of the 24 million pie. The CES show at the beginning of the year showcased more than 75 of these models.


What is to be noted is that Kindle or the other ereaders did not wilt. they are too set for a significant growth. These are predicted to grow to 15.5 million units during the year, showing a growth of 50% over last year's numbers.


These predictions seem to be supported by another source. A J P Morgan report of a survey indicates brand awareness of Kindle and iPad were 76% vs. 84% for iPad. More interestingly, apparently people want both devices. 28% of those who took the survey indicated that they ether already have a Kindle or want to buy one during the year. 40% of iPad owners also own a Kindle. Another 23 percent want to acquire a  Kindle during the current year!
iPad Not Death Sentence for Kindle

Books as we Know it

Will the printed books be around 10 years hence! 25 years or 50 years! Music became disembodied digital stream of bits a while back. Kindle started a revolution, turned books digital yet mimicked the format of a printed book.  So though the content has started becoming digital the whole experience was of reading a book. Along came iPad. Besides lot of other things it can do,  it  reads books in full color and with animated content. So who needs the books in the format we have been used to since the time of Gutenberg!

Electronic books, in full color, which you annotate too and that can talk to you, show video in full HD seems like an ideal medium for knowledge transmission. Kids growing up in digital environment will latch into these kind of things absolutely naturally. Like most things though the printed book also will run parallel though  at much less volumes than today. But then you never know. How quickly those records, cassettes vanished. very soon audio CDs also will go the same way. The only CDs available will have MP3 recordings on them. So, let's see how it goes.

Reading on Paper is Faster than Reading on iPad or Kindle.

Though done with a small sample, this study seems to say reading on paper is faster than on Kindle 2 or on iPad with iBook application. PC World has an article about it here. the 24 people rated the reading experience about the same and the comprehension was similar through any of  the medium. The PC monitor was uniformly hated. probably because, as was pointed out by some, it reminded of the workspace.

It will be really interesting to find out why reading on paper is faster. of course, you would need a bigger study to establish that this is really so. the speed difference recorded was quite significant at 10% or thereabouts. There was a speed difference between reading Kindle 2 and the iPad. Kindle 2 came out to be slower even though the reading experience on it is closest to reading on paper.

Can the whole thing be due to the fact that reading a printed book is associated with relaxation, absence of stress, that makes the difference! This experiment was about reading short stories of Hemingway. Would reading text book, self development books and other such serious books give us a different result because of that association! Reading any of these books, may not be as relaxing an experience even on paper.