Oxymoron of the day: Precise Lawyers
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Amazon Kindle Mac app cuts need for the Ipad
ONLINE BOOKSELLER Amazon has made a move that could cut sales of Apple's Ipad by offering an app which allows Apple users to read books on their Macs.
This must be a blow for the Ipad, which would likely have a Kindle app itself to take advantage of its role as the place to read on the move.
But it might also just mean that Amazon knows that more of its profits will be made on digital book purchases rather than on the devices to read them on.
And considering there are over 450,000 books and growing in the Amazon Kindle store, there are a lot of bucks to be made.
Jay Marine, director for Amazon Kindle, said, "Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX."
But we've got to wonder why anyone who's spent the $200 or so on a Kindle device might bother to read Kindle books on a laptop.
But for those who will switch between devices, Kindle for Mac will carry Amazon technology such as 'Whispersync', which allows users to save and synchronise bookmarks across the gadgets they use.
So the question is whether the Ipad will still be seen as a worthwhile reading device, considering many Mac users will already have two - one that's small, and another one with a keyboard.
However, considering the fevered fandom of the Apple fanbois, we have no doubt that it will. µ
Tags: Apple
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you hit the nail on the head!
Aside from occasional news, i read this site to watch these people complain, pull hair and cry about why their team is better without substance and its wonderful!
Now that MIT have created a robot journalist, what do we need the muppets at the Inquirer for? Come to think of it - copy press release, paste, add gratuitous puerile sarcasm - I think a few lines of JavaScript would suffice. After all, the objective is just to provoke flames so the banner ads get reloaded.
"Objective" comments are boring and not even worth posting in the first place. "It works for me!" comments are equally worthless. If you don't like your sacred cows or your belief in them being violated, take your presence elsewhere where your predescribed views will be supported.
I, for one, enjoy the banter from both Mac and PC camps, as neither is above criticism, and both have their faults. If the comments end up offending people, that's even more icing on the cake.
Why is it that many PC users feel the need to denigrate Mac users? Geez, there's nothing anyone but Apple can do that will make me like my Mac any less; and I can care less what platform anyone else prefers. Keep it objective. Oh, BTW, a Kindle app for Mac does not an iPad make.
Sheech. "Apple fanbois" another geek who thinks geekspeak is as cool as Star Wars.
Tony: "It's Apple. No-one cares." Reminds me of when Michael Dell said Apple should liquidate and return the money to shareholders. I'm glad they didn't I'm a shareholder. Apple's market cap today is 203.91B vs Dell's 28.44B. 10x larger. Did you invest in Dell Tony? Sorry to hear that.
The Kindle App for the Mac benefits Amazon; it, not Apple, is in the business of selling books. Apple makes its money selling hardware. The software and the various stores it creates facilitates those sales.
You are assuming that Apple would object to a wider selection of books available for the Pad. Books, like software and music, are a loss leader for Apple. That is why it sells them so cheaply.
You are also guessing erroneously that the iPad will be sold primarily as an e-reader. It will be sold as an internet connection for people who fear or hate computers. These comprise over 50% of Americans.
Your scatterbrained Aunt Mabel can now be connected and she won't be calling on you for help. A cheaper NetBook would scare the willies out of her; it would be too hard.
The Kindle app has been available on PCs and many many phones for a while and the Kindle is still a top seller on Amazon.
You must not read much. I mean who loves cozying up on the couch with a frigging laptop? Idiotic. These apps are released as alternatives to the main reading medium ereaders.
I was never under the impression that the "need" for the iPad--if any--was ever driven by a *want* to read books on it. After all, while the screen on the iPad is IPS for decent viewing angles, it is still an LCD, no better than a laptop. If people really wanted to read books on a "pad-like" device, they'd get a real ebook reader, or stick with a laptop--not some lame gimped, bastard child of both.
No-one cares.
This article makes no sense. the authour is quite correct and should have stopped writing when he wrote "But we have got to wonder . . . " or words to that effect. I am not sure what solution Amazon is providing here. I can carry my 24" iMac on planes or in car rides and wear down the screen by trying to flick through pages on a non-touch screen! The iPad is not a desktop or a laptop.
If you mean that the app will be available for the iPad that's just great. With the iBookstore, Adobe Digital Editions, Barnes and Noble app, the iPad should just be about the best reader out there since it will be able to access almost all books for sale in ebook form.
As the commentator above said, Apple could care less whether you but eBooks from the iBook Store. They want to sell hardware. Look how "little" they have made from iTunes v. the iPod as a piece of hardware. They do not stop people from purchasing CDs and ripping them to the iPod or buying content from a host of music stores and copying it to the iPod.
the obvious fact that eBook reader apps have been available on Mac and PC machines for ages. Being able to read an book on a laptop or desktop doesn't fit well with the way that people like to consume them - why else is there a rash of eBook readers appearing on the market. People want something kind of book sized, easy to hold and that they can read on the sofa or in bed without worrying about the battery life.
The whole point of the iPad is not to replace a PC or Desktop, but to augment it. It's there to let you consume media, browse the web, read emails etc without having to fire up your main machine. Kindle as an OS X application doesn't help you with any of these things. If it lets you transfer content to the iPad (which I doubt that it will) then it only cuts into Apples iBookstore sales, but makes the iPad a more attractive proposition to buyers.