So we know that the iPad is often criticized as a device that tries to be everything to everyone, but does not excel at any particular discipline. Amazon’s Kindle comes up as an example very often, in which the Kindle is described as the better specialized ebook reader as it has the better screen for reading and better battery life. However, we are also seeing first signs of a new development in ebooks where ebooks turn into multimedia apps that simply can’t run on a Kindle.
Michael Wolf has recently written a great article on this topic for GigaOm Pro (subscription required), and sheds light on what he calls enhanced ebooks. Wolf believes that enhanced ebooks are just developing with all the disadvantages that come along with such a trend – such as inconsistent apps for different platforms, but it is easy to see that, if he is right, that the iPad may be much better positioned for media-rich ebooks than the Amazon Kindle.
That trend has lots of implications for developers, which may suddenly be able to go into a business that was previously reserved for printing services, but offer new types of applications that, for example, create ebook platforms and allow content creators to easily publish media rich magazines, newsletters or ebooks. The market opportunity is substantial, as Amazon announced this week that it is now selling more ebooks than hardcover versions.
Wolf believes that enhanced ebooks may result “in a whole new digital book industry, much like has been seen in the digital video and music industries.” He sees the iPad as a key platform as this trend and consumer perception will evolve. “The media-consumption friendliness of the iPad is a natural choice for authors looking to create a multimedia-laden e-book,” he wrote.