The next step in e-book evolution (final part)

There’s no denying that e-books and e-readers are shaking up the publishing world. But some books might never be popular in a digital format. When technology doesn’t work for a book is something that publishers will have to weigh carefully.

“Does Anna Karenina work better as an app?” asks Jason Rekulak, an editor at Quirk Books. “Do you really want to sit and scroll through 900 screens?”

Another Leo Tolstoy classic, War and Peace, clocks in at 1,000-plus pages. These long novels might be difficult for people to handle on a screen, although it is entirely subjective. In Rekulak’s case, “long-form narrative reading is still superior in the form of a book.”

Another sect of books probably safe is children’s books. Rekulak has seen children’s books on the iPad that are less like books and more like computer games. “I’m not going to sit down with my child and an $800 screen and let him play himself to sleep,” he says. This reluctance is something he believes many parents feel, but not all. This video shows a two-year-old grabbing the iPad and going to town. She immediately starts playing and her father encourages her to use the apps. In fact, you can tell that he purposely bought apps that she could use. This is one instance where a parent believes a child should be comfortable around technology at a young age, regardless of how expensive it is.

“There would have to be a huge cultural shift,” Rekulak says. Today, it is more common for parents “to steer their kids” to books and away from video games. In the future, that sentiment might change. “Maybe you’ll sit kids down with their own baby screens. That’s a scary vision of the future for me.”

What slipped between the cracks, 4/5 to 4/11

Now that the month is halfway through, maybe the iPad fervor will die down a little for some news that isn’t related to Apple’s tablet. Of course the iPad wasn’t mentioned in all of the posts here this week (though it wasn’t always the main focus). And there’s still something to mull over:

Rumors were circulating that Apple will make a mini iPad. The size of the pint-sized tablet would only be slightly larger than an iPhone, which would make it… and iPhone that can’t call. Gizmodo doesn’t believe the Digitimes report.

There’s a video for iPad competitor HP Slate. HP believes that the real gem of its tablet, and what will give it an edge over the iPad, is the ability to Skype and take pictures to upload.

Something I never thought about before is what to do when taking your tablet or e-reader along on vacation, but you apparently don’t have to worry about anything smaller than a laptop. And that includes small netbooks.

Think the iPad is going to herald the future of technology? So does Gartner. The IT research group expects that by 2015 more than half of the computers bought for kids under 15 years of age will have touchscreens. This means that people will buy touchscreen computers not for themselves but for the younger generation, probably because they realize the technology is something people will be using for years.

Announcements coming: stay tuned

It’s always fun waiting for tech events because you never know just what fun device companies will roll out with. Well, you’re never positive. People were speculating for months and predicting before Apple’s January 27 event that a tablet computer would be revealed; but no one knew for sure. They were all right, but they could have been wrong.

I bring this up because Apple will have another event on April 8. This time there is no speculation needed since the invite clearly states “Get a sneak peek into the future of iPhone OS.” So the new iPhone will be revealed. There are rumors about the specifics of the phone, like multitasking.

Just a few days after the Apple event, Microsoft will hold its own event on April 12. The mystery was quickly cracked and sources are all reporting that Microsoft will reveal new phones, which are social-networking centric and will be on Verizon. The real iPhone competitor is the Windows Phone 7, but this event doesn’t deal with them because they aren’t expected until later in the year.

These events are fun, but what I’d like to see is a company that can really keep a lid on what’s going on at its events. Imagine if the Apple event revealed something no one speculating Apple to talk about. What if the media show up at the event and Steve Jobs says, ‘yes, the iPhone will be available on Verizon.’ Everyone would go crazy.

The fun is sometimes in not knowing.

Interest in iPad waning already?

The frenzy some people got into during January got a little crazy before the unveiling of the iPad. Then the big day came and it was almost impossible to turn to a news source without Apple, tablets or the iPad being mentioned. Now? Well, it’s been almost two weeks. People are moving on to other things: like Google, Kindle changes and challenges and fourth-generation iPhone speculation.

According to a Retrevo study, people who know about the iPad but don’t want to buy it has doubled (26% to 52%) since the unveiling. That’s got to sting a little. Or, you could read the study another way (which the people at Apple probably are). The number of people who want to buy an iPad has tripled since the unveiling. That’s right tripled! From a whopping 3%.

Glass half full approach: people who want to buy an iPad has tripled! Glass half empty approach: people who know of the iPad but don't want one has doubled.

So is this good news, or bad news? I’m inclined to think it’s better than average news. After all, the number of people interested in buying an iPad has gone up from 22% to 30%. That’s better than before. That’s still not a great number. But then, this is Apple, a company that refuses to make a computer for under $1,000 regardless of the fact that only 12% of computer owners use Macs. Apple launched the iPod in 2001 and by 2003 only 11% of people owning an MP3 player owned an iPod. In September Apple announced that it had 73% of the market. Sure, it took six years, but that’s still an overwhelming majority.

I think the true test of the iPad won’t be its first month sales, or even its first year sales. I think how many new users buys an iPad after two or three years will decide if it was a success or not. Technology like this won’t go into the market and instantly be popular. People are going to need to get used to it and see the true potential of the tablet.

iBooks may damage Kindle’s book prices

Rupert Murdoch, the chief of News Corp., which oversees HarperCollins, has expressed displeasure at Amazon’s (AMZN) low $9.99 price for electronic books. Another publisher, MacMillan, insisted that prices change to more reasonable (for the company) prices of $12.99  to $14.99.

Enter Apple (AAPL): Murdoch now has some bite to back up his bark. In fact, HarperCollins has already made a deal with Apple that Murdoch likes more. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon is suddenly more interested in negotiating prices.After all, the prices MacMillan secured with Amazon are right in line with what Apple plans to charge for its iBooks.

Apple and Steve Jobs clearly like to change the status quo whenever possible. After all, Jobs decided he didn’t like Flash and wouldn’t allow Flash to run on his products because it was “buggy” and soon to be obsolete. Initially people thought Jobs was off his rocker (myself included). After all, many Web sites use Flash for key components; however, these sites also want to be on the iPhone and iPad and therefore make compatible sites.

With the lure of a new, hyped up device Web sites might forsake Flash for the new HTML5, which Jobs believes will replace Adobe’s software.

Apple’s awesome product, unfortunate name

On Wednesday the Internet almost exploded as Steve Jobs, Apple’s chairman and CEO, took the stage at 1 p.m. EST and announced the worst-kept secret in the technology industry: Apple’s tablet.

There had been rumblings for months on every technology-related Web site that Apple was creating a tablet; the only thing left to ponder, besides what exactly it could do, was what the name would be. At Slate’s offices in NY everyone in the office had at least five conversations about the tablet. And everyone kept coming back to the name. iSlate, iPad, iTablet: they were all bandied about and it wasn’t until Jobs announced the iPad that there was any confirmation.

And then came the abuse. iTampon was a Twitter Trend. Fail Blog photoshopped the new product. Double X, a blog for women, teased that “Clearly Apple needs to employ a few more females in the creative advertising department.”

So why not iSlate? Or iTablet? iPad is shorter and has more of a pop to it. Most likely, Apple chose the name because of the similarity to iPod. After the almost immediate mocking from media outlets is Steve Jobs kicking himself for the naming faux pas? Only time will tell. Specifically June will tell, since that is the iPad’s scheduled launch date in the U.S.; and it’s just far off enough that teasing about the absorbency of the iPad will have lost its bite.

Apple’s first great unveiling of the new decade

At 1 p.m. EST on Jan. 27, technophiles and members of the media tuned in for confirmation about the long-rumored Apple tablet, the iPad. Those lucky enough to be at the event in Cupertino, Ca. were positively giddy with delight. Yet, a friend said it best when she asked, “What is it?”

The iPad is a new category. It’s the bridge between iPhone and netbook. Simply put, it’s a large iTouch. And there’s the crux of the matter. What are we going to use it for? I don’t have the cash to drop $499 (for the cheapest version) plus, added costs with AT&T if I actually want to get online, plus any other fees that will undoubtedly pop up when people start using it a realize they need to buy more accessories for it.

What are the positives of the iPad? As I said, it’s a new category. Don’t feel like lugging your 5 lb. laptop to work or school, especially when all you really do are simple tasks? Pick up an iPad, which is only 1.5 lbs, and which has a slate format making it incredibly thin.

The iPad is 1.5 lbs and only .5 inches.

The iPad has a multitouch screen and, like the iTouch and iPhone, can be held vertically or horizontally.

Just like Kindle and nook and whatever other e-reader you can name, the iPad will have iBooks, which can read books and magazine and newspapers (oh my) available for download from iBookstore. And the iPad has a slight edge over the two heavy-hitting e-readers: with a 9.7 inch screen, the iPad is larger than the nook and the same size as the more expensive Kindle DX.

The Kindle is the same size as the iPad, but lacks the extra features that the tablet offers.

While the Kindle DX might be $10 less and thinner at .38″ vs. the iPad’s .5″ that extra $10 and .12″ will get you Internet access, movies, music, video games and a color screen. Although, right now Apple is expecting books from the iBookstore to be $12.99-$14.99. Books through Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Nobles’ nook are mostly $9.99. Depending on how much you read, that $3 to $5 gap between book prices can become $300 to $500 if you purchase 100 books. At the high end, that’s enough to buy another iPad. But you won’t be able to get a connection without paying more for AT&T.

All three use AT&T for wireless connectivity. I’m, unfortunately, a Verizon girl.

The iPad will be simple enough to use being apps based. Meaning you want to be able to do something, you just download the app which shows up on the home screen and click on the app you want to use it. There’s no going through documents folders to find anything.

However, this leaves little to no customization. And Apple controls what apps you can and cannot download. And Steve Jobs, himself, demonstrated one of the downfalls when he accessed NYTimes.com only to see a white space with a blue Lego-looking figure: and indication that Flash was required to show the video. As on the iPhone, there will be no way to run Adobe Flash, something a large number of Web sites run, on the iPad.

Stay tuned for why the “magical and revolutionary device” (according to the iPad homepage) has such a ridiculous name.

Waiting for the tablet explosion

When I first heard about tablet computers I didn’t know what they were and I didn’t see the purpose. But slowly tablets are becoming the newest technology that people are keen to get their hands on and companies all want to create one of. Tablets, for those who don’t know, are touchscreen computers and all sorts of companies are making them, such as Intel and Dell, Apple, and TechCrunch.

I can’t help but wonder if tablet computers, while interesting, might be obsolete almost as soon as they become big. With how much phones are able to do and the affordability of netbooks, tablets might have no place in the market. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch and the creative force for the CrunchPad, had one thing in mind when he began to conceptualize his tablet “a very thin and light touch screen computer, sans physical keyboard, that has no hard drive and boots directly to a browser to surf the web.” It seems as though tablets are a mix between smartphones and netbooks; the size and capabilities of netbooks with the physical attributes (namely being touchscreen-based) of most smartphones.

They do look nice though.

The CrunchPad is thin and sleek. It seems that netbooks and tablets will eventually merge together to become one. And I believe that all computers and phones will have touchscreens a few years down the road. It can’t be denied that touchscreens are the technology of the future, they cut down on bulk and can actually make working faster (provided the touchscreens are top of the line and not just average). Some day we might all be just like the characters of Star Trek.