What Steve Jobs Actually Said About eBooks
11 Sep
There’s been a big brouhaha over comments Steve Jobs made to NYT’s David Pogue in an interview following Apple’s event on Wednesday. Basically, most people are interpreting what Jobs said about eBook readers to mean that Apple plans to completely stay away from the market. But that’s not actually what Jobs said at all.
How do we know? Because before Pogue re-wrote his interview, he posted the transcription of the Q&A, which still resides in Google’s cache. Here’s the relevant part:
Q: Has your opinion of e-readers changed?
A: I’m sure there will always be dedicated devices, and they may have a few advantages in doing just one thing. But I think the general-purpose devices will win the day because I think people just probably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated device. You notice Amazon never says how much they sell; usually if they sell a lot of something, you want to tell everybody.
We don’t see that it’s a really big market at this point. And in the future, the more general-purpose devices will tend to win the day.
I’m not sure that Amazon, as an example, really cares that much about being in the hardware business. If I were Amazon, I’d love selling stuff where I didn’t have to have a warehouse, didn’t need UPS.
Translation: We’re making a tablet, and eBooks will be a part of those.
Jobs isn’t saying Apple isn’t interested in eBooks, he’s saying that Apple isn’t interested in making a stand-alone eBook reader. And they shouldn’t be. While the devices will exist for a while, eventually the thought that this won’t be a functionality wrapped into other devices is silly. Why carry around multiple devices when you can carry around one? That’s kind of Apple’s thing, isn’t it?
Basically, a lot of people are wrongly translating Jobs’ thoughts about eBook readers as eBooks themselves. eBooks are a huge portion of the App Store, why wouldn’t Apple want to expand their support of them? They do, and they are. It’s just going to be on their tablet device or their other devices, not some stand-alone reader.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
I have been looking at the Kindle online for about six months. I would come very close to making the purchase, but I’d realize it didn’t make economic sense: I didn’t read enough books to justify the upfront investment; I couldn’t share books with friends; I would be giving up library borrowing; and I’m not even sure I own the books I purchase for the Kindle (much hoopla about this, I know). It didn’t make good economic sense to buy a Kindle. Now that I own one, I still agree with that conclusion – but I give the Kindle five stars. Why? Because the Kindle isn’t about saving money; it’s about enjoyable reading. And the Kindle is a glorious success at this. I can’t explain how nice it is to read without turning pages and fussing with bindings. If I want to hold a cup of coffee (or a glass of scotch) in one hand and the Kindle in the other, it’s no problem at all. I can access the relevant control (“Next Page”) without any fuss. If I want to lay the kindle flat on my desk and not touch it but to turn the pages, fine; no problem. For me, this is the main advantage of the Kindle. It sounds a bit ridiculous to complain of books being cumbersome, but you’ll understand after finishing your first Kindle edition book. That said, being able to wirelessly download books is a wonderful, if sometimes unwittingly expensive, feature. I love waking to the New York Times every morning and having various magazines delivered throughout the week for mere dollars a month. Granted, I expect to spend more on actual reading material, but I also expect to read more, which more than compensates for a slight fiscal uptick.
So, my recommendation is this; buy the Kindle, planning wholeheartedly to return it if you’re not completely taken by it. It doesn’t make a lot of economic sense, so you need to love it when it arrives. If you don’t, it’s not the device for you.
Interesting stuff, I think you brought your points forward quite well. How would you like to guest write (for money) on a similar blog?