On Wednesday (January 27, 2010), Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company’s newest contribution to the high tech world - the iPad.  It is a “tablet computer”, that has a 9.7 inch, high-resolution screen.  It is only 1.5 pounds in weight and is only 0.5 inches thick.  With the iPad, users can surf the Internet; watch HD movies; send and receive e-mail; play games; listen to music; and, probably most importantly to readers of this website, they can read books, newspapers, and magazines.

The iPad will be a direct competitor with Amazon.com’s Kindle electronic book and with other similar products (like the Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble’s Nook) that have recently been released.  These electronic products are certainly going to change the way people read books (and magazines and newspapers) and the way publishers and booksellers market their products.  Apple believes its new iPad is superior in many ways to Kindle. It does have many features that Kindle does not have, and it is more versatile than Kindle - meaning it can be used for more than just reading a book or magazine.  It can, as mentioned earlier, be used to e-mail, surf the Web, play games, etc.  One distinct feature it has that Kindle lacks for the e-reader is that is has a backlit LED screen.  As reported in USA Today (1/29/2010), the iPad user “can tap and pinch to summon apps, change pages and zoom photos or Web pages, or rotate the machine to go from portrait to landscape orientation.”  Apple says the iPad has up to 10 hours of battery life when fully charged.

Publishers as a whole seem pleased to have the competition for Kindle and the other e-readers.  Again, as reported in January 28’s USA Today, “book publishers are eager to find an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle. Many are displeased by the online retail giant’s low $10 price for many best-selling e-books”.  The publishers have started withholding some books from immediate release to the e-book format.  “Some, including Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, are fighting back by refusing to release some titles in digital form for several weeks, so devoted fans will pay for the higher-priced hardcover editions (USA Today 1/28/2010)”.

Apple apparently believes it can sell many e-books at a higher price than Amazon is currently selling them at.  USA Today reports, “In a demonstration of its upcoming iBookstore, it showed the late senator Ted Kennedy’s memoir, True Compass, selling for  about $15, vs. Amazon’s $10.” 

The new release certainly gives readers another option.  The iPad will sell at a price starting at $499.  It will be interesting to see how the publishers and bookstores, and READERS, react to the e-book opportunities available now. 

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