If the iPhone was the “JesusPhone,” as some dubbed it in 2007 in advance of its physical manifestation, then the iPad, by comparison, is the PlaguePad: All the same biblical inevitability but none of the blessings. What, exactly, does one do with an oversized iPod Touch? Will it reduce the digital world as we know it to a withered husk, plus turn our rivers to blood for good measure?
As someone who reads books in many of their current forms (hardback, paperback, on a Kindle and an iPhone), I was curious to see what devastation the iPad would sow in the publishing department. A colleague who scampered to Buffalo to pick up a PlaguePad in the early hours of its U.S. release generously let me explore its e-reading capacity for a few hours. I also made a few phone calls and sent some canny e-mails. Here is what I found out about what Canadian e-reading fans can expect when the iPad is released here later this month.
A screen capture of the Winnie the Pooh e-book that comes free with the as-yet-unavailable-in-Canada iBooks app.— Apple
Buying books on the iPad
The Canadian edition of Apple’s iBookstore will be up and running when the iPad is released. Or, at least, that would make sense. Apple isn’t saying (because Apple never says anything). It has to negotiate rights to sell books country by country, just like it had to negotiate the right to sell music country by country, which is why iTunes came to Canada two years after it launched in the U.S. Insiders in the Canadian publishing industry say three things: yes, iBookstore will be working; no, it won’t be working; and I don’t know, stop asking me.
If it is operational, users will be able to purchase books from iBookstore with the iBooks app.
But even if iBookstore isn’t operational, iPad owners will be able to buy books from other e-vendors, most notably Kobo, the upstart launched by Indigo that appears poised to grab a huge share of the international e-book market. American iPad owners can already purchase books through Kobo, and chief executive officer Michael Serbinis says the Kobo app will be available to Canadians the day the iPad is released here.
American users can also purchase e-books from Amazon on their iPad via the Kindle app, so it is safe to assume that will be the case here too.
One caveat: When buying books through the Kobo or Kindle app, users are redirected to the companies’ websites (Amazon.com/kindle-books and kobobooks.com, respectively), where they purchase the e-book and then return to the app to start reading. You can only buy e-books directly onto your iPad through the iBooks app.
Another caveat, this time for iBooks: Kobo and Kindle currently have a much better selection than the iBookstore, as Apple has so far been unable to negotiate a deal with the world’s largest English-language publisher, Random House.
Reading on the iPad
First things first – the PlaguePad is surprisingly heavy. It’s the Stephen King novel of e-readers. It’s more than twice as heavy as the Kindle: 24 ounces (1.5 pounds) vs. 10.2 ounces.
All three e-reading apps reviewed here – iBooks, Kobo and Kindle – allow readers to control font size, brightness and other basic features. Kobo and iBooks additionally allow users to pick between a handful of fonts for their text. They also feature “shelves” on which your purchased “books” stand, with the cover facing out, to impress anyone looking over your shoulder. On the Kindle app, the book covers just float on the screen.
