iBooks: iPad's Book Experience Stomps Kindle's

I have long wanted an Amazon Kindle, but held out because of the looming iPad. Despite arriving a year longer than I initially assumed / hoped, I am glad that I waited as the iPad's book experience is exceptional. The biggest difference: the iPad's big, gorgeous screen makes content (web, apps, books) look stunning. Whether it is the pre-installed Winnie the Pooh book, Marvel Comics or Chelsea Handler, the book looks great. Furthermore, because of the screen's real-estate and ability to be viewed in landscape vs. portrait, it really does feel like a normal book (whereas the Kindle at times feels small and full of compressed pages). Two other difference is of course the platform. Apple pre-installed the Winnie the Pooh book because it demonstrates what publishers can do with this device. The Pooh book has graphics that are rich, colorful and wrapped in text. No other device currently supports that... but it's just the beginning - publishers could embed interactive media or create content that is dynamic based on user input. Just as the iPad represents numerous opportunities for magazines and newspapers - book publishers have similar freedom to think big and innovate.

Lastly, the book experience really is slick. The device feels great in the hand, but it's the navigation, bookmarking, searching and ability to rotate the screen that makes it so intuitive and fun.

And finally two complaints:

1. The inventory of titles is not yet where the Amazon's is... this should change over time (after all, over 700,000 iPads moved yesterday!) 2. I find the bookshelf really corny... for some reason, it looks so hokey and makes the experience feel more childish.

Update: ReadWriteWeb has a good overview of reading on iPad.

iPad Review: 24 Hours with the iPad

After ~24 hours with the iPad, I decided to post a few 'mini-reviews' of the device, experience and applications. Here is my take on the iPad itself, with a couple more posts coming on particular apps: Background: I have the 32GB wifi iPad and also carry a Verizon Mifi card (which can act as the 3G provider for the iPad).

In short: I had very high expectations / hopes going into this ... just look a handful of my excited blog posts. The iPad exceeded my expectations by a landslide, and everyone else who came into contact with it - some Apple fanatics and some cynics - had the same excited response. I really cannot recommend the iPad enough - it will change the way you travel, interact with the web at home, and interact with branded applications.... and you will have a ton of fun using it.

Pros:

- It is a beautiful device. It looks great and feels sturdy and nice in your hands / lap. - The iPad hums. Unlike the iPhone or a regular computer, everything flies on the iPad: applications, emails, bootup, app transitions, etc. - The screen is terrific - crisp, dynamic and rich. Looking at photos and colorful websites like ESPN is a treat. - Typing is much easier than I anticipated. In landscape mode, traditional qwerty typing is doable, intuitive and fast. - Mail, calendar and contacts are much better than I expected. The apps are very intuitive and efficient - particularly navigation. - Books are outstanding... sorry Amazon, but this is a *much* better experience - there is really no comparison. - iPad-specific apps are beautiful, fast and able to take advantage of the large real-estate. More to come on this in future blog posts - but it really is a new realm of development opportunity - The speakers are far better than I expected. Normally internal laptop / cell-phone speakers are pitiful. This isn't a Bose system, but it is quite good.

Cons:

- The biggest downside is that there simply aren't a ton of iPad-specific apps yet. Running iPhone apps on the iPad is really disappointing. Of course this will change over time, but app inventory is limited. - Similarly - and this too will change - book inventory is not as deep as Amazon's. - No camera: it still bothers me that there is no front-facing camera for chat. - There are some minor UI annoyances (ie why are downloaded apps stuck on a new screen?) that I assume will be fixed in upcoming software updates.

Android: 2% Smartphone Requests in Feb 2009, 24% in Feb 2010

AdMob's monthly mobile metrics reports provide terrific, real insights into mobile trends (hardware, software, OS, and mobile usage).The February report has two important trends that I have highlighted over the last few months:

1. Android continues to ramp and take significant market share: "Android was the fastest growing operating system in the AdMob network year-over-year. Android's share of smartphone requests increased from 2% in February 2009 to 24% in February 2010. The top five Android devices worldwide, by traffic, were the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, HTC Magic, and the Motorola CLIQ."

2. The iPod Touch and other web devices are becoming significant mobile devices... and wait until the iPad and tablets emerge

"The mobile Internet device category experienced the strongest growth of the three, increasing to account for 17% of traffic in AdMob’s network in February 2010. Although the vast majority of traffic in this category comes from the iPod touch, the category also includes devices like the Sony PSP and Nintendo DSi."

iPad Developers: Last Call for iPad Apps (March 31st)

Attention iPad developers: today is your last chance to submit applications for the iPad launch on April 3rd. According to Apple's recent developer mailings and the iPhone Dev Center, applications must be received by March 31st to guarantee a spot in the "grand opening of the iPad App Store". Of course, for marketing and distribution purposes, this represents a huge promotional opportunity and first mover advantage.

Advertisers, Publishers Await iPad Launch

"Some of the things you can do are just mind blowing," says Steve Pacheco, FedEx's director of advertising. "You are taking something that used to be flat on a page and making it interactive and have it jump off the page." This is just one glowing quote, among several, in the Wall Street Journal's "Magazines Use the iPad as Their New Barker". Yesterday, I wrote about how the iPad has the opportunity to transform traditional print and reading; today's WSJ talks about how the iPad has the potential to transform the advertisements (and therefore the revenues) for print publications like Conde Nast, Hearst and Time Inc. The model seems appealing to:

The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are working with test iPads, according to people familiar with the matter. Six advertisers, including Coca-Cola and FedEx, have agreed to advertise with the Journal, and a four-month ad package costs $400,000, according to these people. Coke and FedEx declined to comment on terms. The Journal plans to charge subscribers $17.99 a month for iPad subscriptions, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ultimately it comes down to consumer appetite and distribution, but the cycle has the potential to create greater value from already-produced content:

- publishers can deliver content electronically ... and derive direct revenues from download - advertisers, who can create more compelling, engaging ads - and therefore the publishers can draw greater ad values (of course sell through is the major issue)

Whether or not the iPad transforms print, it has captured the attention and imagination of publishers and advertisers alike - and that is sparking innovation... which alone is valuable and exciting.

iPad Demo: Penguin Books

Apple's iPad arrives in ten days. It represents a new form of web consumption and, hopefully, a new form of content, digital media and reading. While the Kindle is able to deliver simple, elegant reading of books, the iPad allows for greater creativity and computing power. The results extend beyond text-based, book-like reading and become something much richer... think applications meet text, rich media, HTML5, and so on.

I initially got very excited about Wired Magazine's demonstration (see here), and after seeing Penguin's demo, have begun to think even bigger about the implications for:

- children's books - textbooks - magazines (editions and brands) Like the iPhone, I think we will see a slower uptake on create content and applications.... but based on consumer demand and developer experience with Apple, my hope is that the iPad app gallery gains depth and strength very quickly. After all, its the apps that ultimately sold the iPhone.

Whats Hot in iTunes? Location-Based Apps.

SXSW 2010 was all about location. In fact, we could look back on 2010 as the year of location and geo... which would be a natural progression from 2009's mobile growth.

According to iTunes and its "What's Hot" category: the App Store is also all about location. While I do not know exactly how 'hotness' is defined, we know a couple things: - it seems to be a mix of curation + popularity - it is distinctly different from "new" apps and "top downloads" - it usually features a mix of free and paid apps... as it clearly behooves Apple to drive paid downloads - it usually features a mix of app types: games, sports, utilities, etc - for specific themes, Apple creates curated 'storefronts' (like "Baseball App Store Essentials" or "Independent Games Festivals") So it is unique that the six "hottest" apps are: Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Whrrl, MyTown and Citysearch. All are free and location-based, check-in applications. In fact, only one of those applications (Booyah's MyTown) features in-app purchases; but while they are not direct revenue producers for Apple, these are all highly viral and sticky applications.

I would love to see another app category: "most active". Ultimately, I care far more about ongoing usage and adoption than the download. And ultimately, Apple should favor sticky, oft-used apps (like Pandora and Facebook... and these location apps) than those with very high churn. You can extrapolate usage through downloads and ratings... but that is flawed because 1) ratings are predominently negative due to Apple's implementation) and 2) we do not have great visibility into downloads. A barometer of activity - no matter how disguised it would be - would be powerful... and I imagine that, for the time being, these six apps would appear in that list:

I would love to see a