Beneath the shadow of the iPad
The launch of Apple’s new iPad has inevitably created emotionally powerful reactions. For many reviewers, it is almost a religious artefact; it’s not a coincidence that the Guardian has compared the handling of new Apple products to the Turin Shroud.
My personal reaction to Apple products is usually cooler. But, this is different. The iPad is a game-changer on a number of levels. Exactly why this is a game-changer has been documented, at length, elsewhere. My focus is on the iPad as a market-maker. It’s somewhat naive to think that the iPad exists in a traditional market. Before the device was launched, the belief was that it will occupy the same market as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader: e-readers.
Of course, the iPad does this very well, with its support for EPUB. But, the co-existence of EPUB and bespoke apps has made the device much more than an e-reader; it’s a tactile, multi-purpose, permanently-connected consumer access product. Therefore, the positioning as a market maker is interesting. As with other Apple products, it is a solid, premium device with an interface and user experience that is the product of millions of research Dollars.
As with the iPod, the positioning will create a shadow, and open up a potentially massive market for e-readers, at lower prices. The market will sustain both the iPad and a (hypothetical) Argos neutrally-branded e-reader at £400 and £20, in the same way that the market sustains both £10 MP3 players and the iPod Touch.
The shadow will bring prices of e-readers down from around £200 to something that everyone can afford. This will not happen overnight, but it will happen. A by-product of premium positioning can be the encouragement of commoditisation, meaning that we should see a wide range of e-readers of different shapes, sizes, resolution, quality, and features. Some of them will have some kind of DRM. Hopefully, many (all?) will have an open format such as EPUB. Some will have bespoke applications. Some will be part of other devices.
The market is opening. Digital content and publishing are on the cusp of large-scale adoption. Publishers need to both embrace the greatness that’s already out there – whether in the Kindle, iPod or elsewhere – but remain flexible enough in their strategy and approach to ensure that they can meet the challenges (rights, business models, user experience, consumer demand) of what’s to come.