Journal Entry
The State of Reading on The iPad
I just watched the Steve Jobs keynote at WWDC. I usually check in at an Apple-obsessed site when WWDC hits, just so I can find out what launched and the details, but I usually don’t bother to spend the time watching the video unless I’m being paid to (article writing, tech stuff). Last night I did it just to make sure I got the facts right, because I saw several mistakes in the reporting about what he said about eBook sales via iBooks.
But here’s the gist:
Two million iPads have sold in two months. In those two months, five million eBooks have been purchased (as in, cash-money, yo, not free downloads) from 5 of the 6 biggest publishers.
5 of the 6?
Well, until recently, Penguin and Apple have been negotiating, so #6 couldn’t be included because it wasn’t selling any books via iBooks.
Now, those 5 publishers, according to Jobs, saw 22% of their eBooks sold via iPads.
A couple of months ago a lot of experts were here to tell me people wouldn’t read on iPads, books wouldn’t sell on them due to all the multimedia it came, iPads sucked, and that iPads wouldn’t sell.
So much for that.
As a cockroach-writer-interested-in-survival, I’m happy to see the expanded ecosystem, and the viable eBook market segment spring up. iBooks finally allows for impulse purchasing inside the app, something I’ve always wanted as a consumer. While I would like better avenues to hunt/find/browse books inside iBooks other than a ‘featured’ section and a ‘best seller’ list and a search bar, I’ve found myself gravitating nicely to it over the B&N and Kindle. Mainly because reading two pages side by side in landscape mode is very natural and comfortable for me.
iPads are selling strongly, and Apple will be releasing iBooks on the iPhone and other iOS devices (iPod Touches) at the end of the month with the new software upgrade (iOS 4, which is what Apple is calling its mobile OS).
There are 100 million iOS devices out there currently in the ecosystem. While the industry always pays attention to book reading devices, they constantly ignore the impact of the iPhone, which via the Kindle app, has been the real driver of eBook sales (why do you think Amazon refuses to publish Kindle device numbers?).
We figured the iPad would make things interesting. The raw numbers just proved it.
The new iPhone will have a 326 dpi screen, which is good enough to fool the human eye into thinking its as good as print (I’ll be getting one at the end of the month for Father’s Day, as the iPhone is what I do most of my reading off of).
Publishers keep wondering how to get books and dedicated book readers to the public.
There are 100 million potential readers with a direct pipeline to their device out there right now. That battle is already pretty much won. Some people will still want dedicated readers like a Sony or the Kindle (b/c they don’t like backlit screens, have older eyes, etc), but they’re not where growth or the future of reading lies.
Apple says there 150 million credit card backed iTunes accounts. The customers are out there…
Filed under the topic Journal on June 10th 2010 at 2:25 pm. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.
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Tobias is a Caribbean-born SF/F novelist who lives in Ohio.
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1. Adam Lipkin on Jun 10th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
If anything, these numbers are understated, as Apple is (understandably) focusing on folks using the iBookstore (and the associated app). But I can (and do) read books on my iPad using iBooks, the Kindle App, the B&N Reader App, and Kobo’s app (which has an interesting nighttime option).
And that’s not even taking into account the fact that the majority of my reading on the iPad is of PDF documents, usually with Cloudreaders (which doubles as a very nice .cbr reader).
The point being, it’s entirely possible that someone is using the iPad as a reader without using Apple’s store, but the device is still making a huge difference in how they approach ebooks.
2. LaShawn on Jun 10th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I just picked up the Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh (hardcover) for my son’s birthday. One of my co-workers had an iPad, so I got to play with it and see her ebook version. I’m super impressed. All the pages are there, and in color, which can’t be said for Kindle. I even like the graphic for turning pages. It felt like I held the real book, except much lighter than the hardcover. I bet if I had an iPad, I’d be a lot more open to getting ebooks than I am now.
Of course, with iPad’s prices, I don’t think that will happen for a long while. But I can see it happening. It will just take time, that’s all.
3. Mike on Jun 10th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I love it. I’ve been reading books on my iPod Touch for over a year now. I read about half of my books this way and that’s only because I’m still working through my to be read paper book pile. I’ve been considering a Kindle but have started leaning toward the iPad…especially after actually seeing one at the coffee store the other night.
4. Jason on Jun 10th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I had an iPad for a week then took it back. I wasn’t at all impressed with iBooks. Any ereader without eink is a waste of money, IMO. I’d rather stick to paper books than read on an LCD screen, even with the contrast and color adjustments you can make on the ipad.
Once the next generation comes out with multitasking and a front camera for skype calls, I’ll buy another, but right now it’s just a big iphone minus the phone.
5. Bart Leib on Jun 10th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
My wife and I run a small publisher/zine, and about 90% of the submissions we get are read on our 1st-gen iphones. We read for leisure on them as well. We resisted the 3G and 3GS iPhones, but the screen on the new model is too nice to pass up.
Also, we publish our zine and all our books in ePub format. Which can be direct-uploaded to iBooks.
6. Argonel on Jun 10th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I have been reading ebooks for over a decade. First on the PC then on a monochrome palm pilot. Now I read them on my phone. The lack of backlighting is the biggest argument against eink devices in my opinion followed by the lack of color. Yes reading black text on a white screen in a dark room can cause eyestrain. However I prefer reading green on black or gold on black anyways. With color LCD screens we aren’t limited to what can be cheaply printed with ink on paper.
I’m not interested on owning an ipad, but I wouldn’t mind taking a look at one.
7. Mary Kay on Jun 10th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
I adore reading on my iPad. What sort of idiot thought I/we wouldn’t? One with young eyes I expect. It’s gotten hard for me to read traditional paperbacks. iPad makes it simple and easy and enjoyable again. And I’ve found I use it for a lot of things I used to use my iPhone for, esp. Twitter & mail. Happy sigh. Apple ought to be paying me a commission!
MKK
8. Tom on Jun 11th, 2010 at 3:30 am
Now let’s just hope it doesn’t take as long to get rid of DRM as it did for music. I’m currently also using some online epub readers, but they only open non-DRM stuff.
9. Metal Dan on Jun 11th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
As a recent English grad and pretty much dirt po’, I can’t afford and iPad, yet it does look like something I would love to own. I really enjoy reading a your take on the iPad.
10. Rob in Denver on Jun 11th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Let’s be honest about what Apple’s done with its presentation of 22 percent. They’re smart people and they’ve gotten a lot of other smart people to go gobble up the spin.
Jobs said:
Fair enough. It’s accurate. Of course, publisher number 6 is Random House… the biggest of them all. Yet the large graphic that displayed behind him as we speaking read:
Of course, that image appears everywhere (see it here). What’s more is that, rather than work with what Jobs actually said, many respectable publications are basing their reportage on the “22 percent of the market” meme that appears in the graphic. Back when I graduated J-school in 1991, we called that shoddy reporting. And, of course, the marketing experts that work in Cuppertino know that most people won’t bother to read what Jobs said and simply refer to the graphic and accept it as truth.
So is it 22 percent of the ebook market? Hardly.
Also, Toby, you’ve got an error. Jobs didn’t say five million books have been purchased by iPad users. He said five million books have been downloaded. It’s not even a nuanced distinction. Downloaded ≠Purchased. There’s overlap. But Jobs counted on people not making the distinction.
Is the iPad a great device? Yes. Is it a game-changer for ereading. Not really. Is Apple spinning? You better believe it.
11. Paul Jessup on Jun 11th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I think it’s a little too early to count out e-readers.
First of all, there are ones dropping in price like mad. I bet we see an e-ink reader (probably by borders) at $50 price range around xmass time. Since the majority (60%? I think?) of the book buying public makes under 30,000$ a year, you bet you’re going to see more ppl buying a $50 e-reader to buy ebooks than a $500 iPad. Will they want one? Of course. Can they afford one? Of course not.
Will they kill the iPad? No, of course not. That’s like saying the iPad will kill netbooks. Or computers.
12. Monique Magee on Jun 11th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I’m glad to have run across this blog. I found this post very interesting and look forward to read a few back posts while I’m here.
But, I must say, I’m also very glad to read Rob from Denver’s comment clarifying the whole “iPad take a 22% ebook market share” headline that seemed to be everywhere this week. How easy it is to distort things in today’s media environment since people just seem to believe it if they read or hear it enough… We all need to be more careful.
Cheers.