Today he had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading. “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
Lynch writes, “If you’re at all familiar with Jobs, that comment is a dead giveaway that Apple has an eBook reader in the pipeline. In the past, Jobs has made disparaging comments about competitor’s products as a smoke-screen to try and hide what Apple was busily working on behind the scenes.”
“Mark my words, if Jobs denigrates a market segment or a competitor’s product then there’s a good chance that Apple is cooking up something sweet and delicious in its kitchen, and you can bet that Jobs is the head chef in charge of it all,” Lynch writes.
“As we all know, Macbooks have replaced the old ‘iBook’ laptops that Apple used to sell. Hmmm…so it’s quite interesting that the word ‘iBook’ is now free for Apple to use as the name of their eBook reader,” Lynch writes. “A coincidence? I doubt it very much.”
Much more in the full article, including Lynch’s discussion of an Apple eBook reader software release for iPod and iPhone, here.
Sometimes, a banana is just a banana.
Kindle killer?
The KINDLE is a Kindle killer.
More likely, it’ll be a new “Newton” but also have the ability to read eBooks. I highly doubt Apple will create a device whose sole purpose is reading eBooks.
I disavow any knowledge of an Apple FUD campaign to freeze sales of the Kindle.
It is just about as likely to be called the Newton or eBook or ][GS as it is the iBook. Too much confusion re-applying an old name to a completely different product.
In no particular order:
– One can only hope.
– I’d like to see a good eReader for all of the iPod/iPhone lines.
– If Apple comes out with a dedicated eReader then, NO PROPRIETARY BS. IT MUST WORK WITH ALL EBOOKS NOT JUST THE ONES FROM ONE PARTICULAR SITE!!!!!!!. READ MY LIPS [TYPING IN BOLD] NO PARTNERSHIPS, THEY SIMPLY DO NOT WORK TO THE BUYERS ADVANTAGE FOR THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT – PERIOD.
– A dedicated eReader from Apple must have an awesome screen and simple interface, and please dear lord something smaller than that ridiculous Amazon thing.
Peace, love, joy and happiness.
Steve Ballmer and Jerry Yang reportedly had a productive tryst, err… business meeting at San Francisco’s romantic getaway Dockside Boat and Bed. Ballmer has a stated fondness for wine and cheese and the slow easy rolling of incoming waves.
Eeeew.
eMac, iPod here…
eBook, iBook there…
All we need is Ofoto and we can all sing, “Eee ey ee eye oh.”
Any mid-scale portable that Apple develops will be capable of acting as an eBook platform. Apple develops targeted devices where the demand is high and the application makes sense (i.e., iPods). Apple develops/evolves multifunction devices where they make sense (iPod to iPod with photos and video, iPod touch with wireless and apps, iPhone with iPod and wireless and apps).
The market for a stand-alone eBook platform is small. The market for a “tablet” style portable with multi-touch that is larger than the iPhone/iPod touch, but smaller than the MacBook/Air would seem to be much greater, although possibly not large enough to trigger an Apple product in the near term. Wait and see…
Yeah, the kindle was a dumb idea.
‘(I guess I’m a no one, because I’m usually reading 2+ books at any given time).’
Ditto. Makes me wonder who Steve’s talking about there. Maybe he doesn’t have time to read.
First off, the reason that Apple replaced the iBook name with Macbook is to signify the Intel switch, the same reason Powermac and Powerbook were retired.
This will never happen, one because the “ebook” reader is targeted for such a specific type of media, and besides the shuffle, all of Apple’s iPods, iPhones, etc. can play movies, music, podcasts, games, etc. Their iPods are already fully capable of having ebooks on them, it would just take software and an easily accessible ebook service in the iTunes store. You can almost expect someone to write an ebook application for the iPhone/iPod touch once the SDK comes out. I just think that Apple has other priorities, because people definitely don’t read as much as they watch movies, listen to music, etc. So, while it could happen to iPhones, & iPods, i would never expect an Apple-made “ebook” device. It’s just not logical and its just not in their history to ever come out with this device. Apple has publicly stated that they are all about the “Digital Hub” of movies, music, podcasts, mobile media. They’re also betting on the fact that people are less likely to go out and buy a new device for their ebooks, when they could just add it to thier iPod they already have for a small software fee.
And on a side-semi-related note, I think that applications like that are the future of the iPhone, and the iPhone will be more like a computer with selling applications, etc. t
Something else to consider…
Apple has already text to speech built into OS X and if the iPod Touch and iPhone are “the real/full version” of OS X then they have that capability too.
There’s no stopping someone to easily set a program to automatically read a text file, an email, a web page, etc instead of highlighting & going up to the menu to make it speak.
Chris
@John
I don’t know about you, but reading War and Piece on a Nano would be like carving something out of a toothpick. But I agree with you in essence. This entire story is SPECULATION, and bad one, at that.
Besides, Jobs is right. Off all the people I know here in the US, I actually know more that have NEVER read a book then those who are avid readers.
iSeriously doubt that Apple would rehash the iBook moniker for any new device. It would have been a good name for it, but I just don’t see Apple doing that.
The other part about him talking down that market is interesting… and I would put money on it that Apple is working on something. But I think it is hasty to think EVERYTHING Apple does has Jobs in the front line. They have many talented people, including someone by the name of Jonathan Ive, that work at Apple. Jobs most likely has the final say… but I am not so sure that he is in the kitchen cooking on EVERY project as people seem to believe.
“Behind every great man there is a strong woman.” Well, behind Jobs, there is Jonathan Ive. (not that I am comparing him to a woman.)
The Dude abides.
For simple prose like novels you don’t need another device. A cell phone makes a fine reader, in spite of / because of its small backlit screen. The small size means its so portable you carry it everywhere (or its size has been limited to what you will carry everywhere). The backlight is nice for reading in dim light – at night without waking your partner for example. Why spend $400 ?
You can get a lot of free public domain and creative commons books for phones from http://www.booksinmyphone.com
No, the kindles competitor is an iPod, with audio books.
i can’t be bothered reading either, I just buy an audio book. I even have iWoz on audio book as well.
if they make a 5.5 or 6.5 inch version of the touch with a little more power, and some doc editing features (the SDK might be enough to do that) then the ability to read ebooks would just be a bit of frosting on the cake.
bring it out guys i am waiting for it….
“I disavow any knowledge of an Apple FUD campaign to freeze sales of the Kindle.”
all 4 of the kindles they would have sold this year are going to get left in the warehouse?
I’d much rather have “phone sex” quality text-to-speech on my iPod Touch. I might actually “read” the newspaper then.
Gazzam!
If people don’t read any more, it seems to me that the eBook killer is already out there and it’s called the Audiobook.
An alternative would be an eBook reader that speaks the text for you in a sexy voice.
Either way an iPod Touch or an iPhone would be all you’d need.
That sexy voice could be male, female or robotic for the Bill Gates crowd.
@The Dude
I definitely agree with you about reading books on iPod classics and nanos, it would be extremely difficult, even the iPhones and iPod touches to a degree, but if Apple were to come out with the software for just iPhone and iPod touches, I’m pretty sure the public wouldn’t be happy to know that while their nano is capable of doing this, Apple just refused to support it in the update, simmilar to the video rentals not supported on 5G iPods. While most people aren’t going to read ebooks on their iPods, there’s always going to be that, “well why couldnt the just let me have that functionality too?” like, Apple might as well allow it, as long as it isn’t too costly to add a iPod nano/Classic version.
And while we’re on the subject, if ebooks came to the iPod, I think Apple would take an interesting spin on things, not what you’d typically expect out of an ebook reader, like maybe a magazine/newspaper functionality on thier -Pod devices. etc. And while I think that the best way to view these things is on an iPhone or iPod touch, a watered down text based version could always be produced for the regular iPods. Oh, and it would work similar to the podcast feeds or TV shows, except you’d pay subscription fees or by the edition, etc. So that you automatically get the latest edition when you plug in your iPod, and of course budding ‘zines and such could get their start in iTunes, supplying free magazine/newspaper content and work their way up, get popular and voila! a new magazine was born…
I made a market case for a 6×9″ or larger MacBook touch on my blog on December 14th. Will Apple Save Publishing?
All Apple needs is a book page sized iPod touch-like device to effectively capture the e-book reader market.
Apple would never use a previous products name as a future product name. That would only serve to create confusion, and that is very un-Apple.
Nothing to see here, everyone go home.
Quite possibly the stupidest “analyst” I have read in a LONGGGGG time. Good grief… Oh, and Sometimes a tire iron is just a tire iron.
i think that the “dedicated ebook reader” will really be the ipod tablet! it makes no sense to make just a dedicated ereader. It will probably be something the size of the kindle, but thinner and have all of the itunes controls built in so that it links directly, just like with an ipod. additionally, it will probably be wireless. it will probably allow books, music, films to be downloaded on the fly.