When it comes to evaluating the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today’s topic is print-on-demand.
Everybody’s doing it. Amazon does it. Lulu does it. Even Apple does it — so long as what you’re printing is a photo book.
So why haven’t we heard a peep about iBooks Author (iBA) print-on-demand? Wouldn’t it be nearly as easy to produce an iBA project as a photo one? So what’s the hold up?
We think that iBooks Author offers a perfect opportunity for Apple to extend its already excellent POD services to a new group of customers. They could easily extend their current meant-for-iBooks templates to a variety of more printer-friendly options.
Sure they’d have to change the pricing model, add more pages, allow black & white printing, and implement other changes that reflected the difference between heirloom photo collections and a standard print book. We get that, along with the big set-up overhead that would be involved. But think of how awesome it might be.
So why have we heard not a whispered rumor? Is this a no-go area for Apple?
You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with all your analysis.
You’re the Pundit: Could Apple introduce iBooks Author print-on-demand? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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