iPad Versus Kindle – iPad The Kindle Killer?

by Paul Colligan on March 11, 2010

I love the talk of Kindle Killers by people who have never touched the iPad before.  Yes, it’s going to be an amazing device but we need to keep things in perspective.

Or, in the case of Kindle versus iPad are they right?  Is iPad the Kindle “killer?”

I like e-ink – I like it a lot.  I’ve read dozens of books on my Kindle and couldn’t see doing the same on an iPad.  It isn’t an issue of battery as much as it is an issue of eye strain, etc.  I don’t see myself, at this point, selling my Kindle with the arrival of the iPad.

But, from a marketing stand point, we need to really be honest about the Kindle.  Whereas, yes, it is Amazon’s top selling product, it only does one thing, books.  It may actually (and I’m going to bet) do books better than the iPad, but if you count everything else the iPad does … what’s the Kindle got left – especially at that price.

Now, we know Amazon ain’t beyond pricewar action, so I imagine we’ll see the price of the Kindle go down but, again, … I wonder where the market is.

So, in my gut, I think iPad is the Kindle Killer, but not because it’s a better device.

Does that make sense?

Yes, I know B&N has an reader coming out for the iPad “soon, but, and let’s face it, so does everyone else.

I’d love your thoughts on this one.  Does Kindle have a future?  Should it?  What’s next for ereaders?

  • http://www.johnjaworski.com/ John Jaworski

    I think the Kindle is an amazing tool for the job that it was created for. I LOVE reading books on it, and I would keep it even if I bought an iPad.
    You can have my Kindle when you pry it from my cold dead hands! :-)

  • http://www.johnjaworski.com/ John Jaworski

    I think the Kindle is an amazing tool for the job that it was created for. I LOVE reading books on it, and I would keep it even if I bought an iPad.
    You can have my Kindle when you pry it from my cold dead hands! :-)

  • paulcolligan

    No really, how do you feel about these things John?

  • paulcolligan

    No really, how do you feel about these things John?

  • georgekedourie

    It was my very first thought.

    I use Kindle on the iPhone and really really love it, even though I have to agree with you about the e-ink.
    I can get back to my book very very easily at odd moments…waiting in the car for 5 mins or in darker places where the Kindle is hard to read.

    So I do rather regret the Kindle purchase except for one crucial thing.
    I have 100's of PDFs on it which I now actually read. I still have not found an iPhone PDF reader that works for me. Perhaps on the iPad it will be different.
    Any thoughts on that?

    It will be interesting to see how this plays out…

  • georgekedourie

    It was my very first thought.

    I use Kindle on the iPhone and love it even though I agree with you about the e-ink. So I rather regret the Kindle purchase except for one crucial thing.
    I have 100's of PDFs on it which I now actually read. I still have not found an iPhone PDF reader that works for me. Perhaps on the iPad it will be different.
    Any thoughts on that?

    It will be interesting to see how this plays out…

  • paulcolligan

    I think PDFs on the Kindle will be excellent. But PDF reports tend to be shorter the kind of thing I don't mind reading at all on a screen. I'm talking 500 page plus novels that would give me a headache on anything with a refresh rate.

    Even a magical tablet ;-)

  • paulcolligan

    I think PDFs on the Kindle will be excellent. But PDF reports tend to be shorter the kind of thing I don't mind reading at all on a screen. I'm talking 500 page plus novels that would give me a headache on anything with a refresh rate.

    Even a magical tablet ;-)

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