Steve Jobs definitely knows how to put on a show. Apple unveiled their newest creation, the iPad yesterday. Aside from being a very nicely designed tablet computer, Apple’s iPad will also serve as an e-book reader.

Apple’s entry into the e-book market is a direct challenge the Amazon’s Kindle which has dominated the e-book market over the past couple years. Now it looks like Amazon has some catching up to do.

Apple’s iPad works like a regular computer. You can browse the internet, listen to music and read books. You can think of it as an entertainment hub. Amazon’s Kindle is a more simplified device. The Kindle basically only does one thing, but it does it really well. It allows you to read books on the go. The Kindle makes it very easy to get books from Amazon’s store (wirelessly with no internet fee).

Pricing: The most important thing to look at is pricing. Amazon’s Kindle is priced at $259, while the iPad starts at $499. With Amazon you get free internet, but with the iPad you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. Although it’s important to note, that the only reason you’ll really need web access on the Kindle is to download books. An iPad user is much more likely to be accessing the internet not just for books, but also for movies and music, along with simple browsing.

Battery Life: Amazon’s kindle wins this contest very easily. The iPad has a color display and will definitely kill your battery faster. However, I was surprised to know that Apple claims 10-hours of better life. The Kindle can run for up to a week with its wireless connection on.

Size & Display: If you compare the iPad to the Kindle DX (Amazon’s bigger Kindle), they’re both about the same. Both are a little over a pound and very light. Both screens are 9.7 inches.

Keyboard: The iPad has an on-screen keyboard while the Kindle has a physical keyboard. Which is best? This is usually based on the user’s preference.

Storage: The Kindle DX has 4GB of internal storage, which is roughly equal to about 3,500 books. The iPad has 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of flash storage.

Apple’s iTunes vs. Amazon’s Bookstore: This battle will be a tough fight. Apple’s iTunes store is very widely used for getting music, video and podcasts. It’s a great distribution system that already integrates very really well with other Apple products. Meanwhile, Amazon’s bookstore is the most visited bookstore in the world. The Kindle makes it very convenient to shop the store, but Apple could easily leverage iTunes to offer its iBooks.

It remains to be seen whether or not the iPad could overtake the Kindle’s domination of the e-book market, but you can certainly expect the competition to fuel more innovation, which is great for the consumer.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 11:01 am and is filed under Productivity Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.