So, what I think is that there’s a need for another party (Apple) to step in and take control over the state of e-book affairs. Right now its like the wild wild west. There’s tons of different stores selling almost 10 different e-book formats. There’s no real standard for pricing, there’s no expectations for customer purchase experience and there’s no rules for what a reader should be able to do. Amazon is THE ONLY player who has the entire thing down to a science, but they’re only one experience and a costly one at that.
People hear the term "eBooks" and they know they exist.
But it's not until their money is on the line that they devote the time to researching what they've gotten -- or will be getting -- into.
And, like Brandon above, the initial and lasting impression is that the entire eBook landscape is screwed-up, broken, and almost more trouble than it's worth.
I've raged over and over for Apple to do eBooks.
I still think, deep down, Apple does have a plan. And the reason why this plan has not come to pass is because, Apple being Apple, they don't intend to do a half-assed job of it. Doing eBooks correctly would also involve adding code to their existing applications. Maybe even OS X itself.
And right now, Apple is making a ton of money with the iPhone, is busy thinking up new APIs and things to add to it to fend off the Palm Pre, and also working on that chimerical Apple Tablet.
It's bloody All Hands On Deck over there.
Plus add in whatever distractions Steve Jobs' health create.
I am, however, convinced that Apple could enter eBooks and, despite all the current players, dominate it.
I have my own plan for how Apple could do that.
I hope Apple has one of its own too.
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4 comments:
It's also typical of Apple to wait for a market to mature before they step into it. They got their fingers burnt too often for being ahead of the curve. On the other hand, I'm not sure they're interested in spreading themselves too thin, so it remains to be seen if they want to take on an end-to-end solution. I got a lot from this talk by Michael Tamblyn.
Have to say, Mike, your blog has become essential reading for me.
>>>It's also typical of Apple to wait for a market to mature before they step into it.
Yes. The iPod was hardly the first MP3 player. And it grew well before people had an iTunes Store to buy from.
An Apple Tablet is "chimerical?"
You do know the definition of that word, don't you?
If it is indeed "impossible" for Apple to create one, when it arrives in stores will you promise to put away your thesaurus?
@George: Why don't we look up "chimera" together, eh?
Do you see:
>>>a vain or idle fancy
You do? Do you understand what *that* means?
Good. Dismissed!
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