But moments later, the compliment took on an ominous
tone when Jobs added, “We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a
little further.”
At a first glance the multimedia iPad — with its
fast, colorful, touch-screen, and built in Web browser and video
player—would seem to outshine the slower Amazon device. “It’s like
comparing
But not everyone was ready to let the Kindle burn.
The Kindle “is optimized to do one thing and do it very well, and that is reading,” said
an analyst with market research firm iSuppli. “If the user is
interested in buying a device for books, the Kindle is a no-brainer.”
Amazon’s blockbuster product didn’t become the
world’s most popular e-reader for nothing, analysts said. It boasts a
relatively long battery life, a free wireless connection to Amazon’s
extensive online bookstore, a screen that’s supposedly easy on the eyes
— and price. The Kindle costs
And while Apple wouldn’t comment on the price of
books in its new store, some screen shots the company displayed at its
news conferences showed prices ranging upward of
“Kindle editions of
It also remains to be seen whether Apple will be
able to offer the range of titles its more established competitors now
do. Amazon’s bookstore features more than 400,000 Kindle-ready books.
To compete, Apple announced its online iBookstore, with titles supplied by
Since the Kindle was first launched in late 2007, its advocates, including Amazon CEO
have said that in order to reproduce the quiet, solitary experience of
reading a book, e-readers should not tempt users with a panoply of
digital distractions.
The iPad, on the other hand, is by design a
multimedia device, equipped with dozens of entertainment features and
primed to offer thousands more in the form of add-on applications.
Critics say that’s not going to help anyone get to the end of the chapter.
“If you like your kids, get them an iPad so they can play games,” said
which created the digital paper technology used by the Kindle and many
other e-ink based readers. “If you love them, get them an e-reader so
they can actually read.”
Wilcox also pointed to the iPad’s weight: at 1 1/2 pounds, it’s more than twice as heavy as the standard 10-ounce Kindle.
“It’s going to be noticeably too heavy to use for extended reading,” he said.
The Kindle and other low-power e-ink readers also
retain a distinct advantage in the battery department. A single charge
will allow one week of continuous reading on the Kindle, whereas the
iPad’s glowing screen and powerful internal computer will deplete its
battery in closer to 10 hours.
A perhaps more dubious strike against the iPad is
that the light from its screen could put strain on users’ eyes after
prolonged periods of use. Electronic ink, which was created to mimic
the visual properties of a printed page, has been praised by critics
and consumers as more eye-friendly.
But the science does not yet support the idea that backlit digital displays are bad for your eyes, said
The idea that computer screens cause eye strain “is
more hearsay and anecdotal,” he said. “I don’t think the screen is any
more toxic to the eye,” he said. And, he noted, whereas many people
have no choice but to stare at a computer monitor for hours a day at
their jobs, readers can choose to rest their eyes at any time by
putting their book down.
But even if the iPad turns out to be the
“Kindle-killer” that some are predicting, Amazon already has a backup
plan: the online merchant, which already has a free application that
lets its customers read books bought from its Kindle store on the
iPhone, says it will have a version for the iPad shortly.
—
(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.
Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
