Outside Innovation

How Amazon Could Keep Our eBook Business, Even If We Switch to the Apple iPad

By Patty Seybold (and Clients & Colleagues)

 
It’s not often that we’re faced with the dilemma of choosing between two exceptional customer experiences. The advent of Apple’s iPad poses that dilemma for me. I’m almost certain that once I start using Apple’s iPad, I will use my Amazon Kindle less and less. And that means that my impulse buying, not just of digital books, magazines, and newspapers, but also of digital music, movies, TV shows, and games will move to Apple. Why? Because the iPad is seductive. It embodies the incredible Apple “i-”user experience and I’ll be able to enjoy crisp black and white reading, brilliant color reading, and interact with my content, my friends and colleagues, and the world while relaxing in my favorite leather armchair or lying in my hammock.

This troubles me. I am seduced by the iPhone, but I’m still in love with the Amazon customer experience. Amazon has made my life easy since 1994. I entrust most of my purchases to Amazon. They rarely let me down. I’ve had great customer experiences. I act on many of the recommendations they give me because they know what I love.

Seeking Advice When Torn between Two Loves

So, this week, I sent out an SOS to my family, friends, and my smartest customers—Patty’s Pioneers and Patty’s Visionaries—the people who are my role models—the lead users who break new ground in customer experience and business innovation. I asked them for advice: Advice for me and advice for Amazon. Here are a few of the things they recommended for me, for other loyal Amazon customers, and for Jeff Bezos at Amazon to consider:

According to my clients, Amazon should:

1. Make it easy to buy digital goods FOR all platforms FROM all platforms.

2. Sell easily portable content

3. Provide the best digital library and back-up services

4. Continue to offer the Kindle Reader software across all devices

5. Support color and better graphics on its e-Readers

6. Sponsor an Open Source e-reader platform

7. Embrace ePub and other E-Book formats that are publishers’ standards

8. Provide competitive commissions; but compete on price

Apple’s iPad: Just Good Enough to Transform the Publishing/Media Industries

My quick take on the iPad, based on the video footage of Steve Jobs’ announcement, is that it is a transformational device. I believe that the iPad will transform the publishing industry. Magazine and newspaper publishers are breathing a sigh of relief. The iTunes/iPhone model of delivering content encourages people to pay for subscriptions or by the issue. On the Web, publishers worry about charging for content. But once the content is downloadable on a mobile, portable device, people seem to be more willing to pay for it. Steve Jobs pioneered paying for music through iTunes. Jeff Bezos made it work for digital books. Steve Jobs will now do it for newspapers and magazines.

The other good news for book publishers is that Apple’s eReader (iBook) uses the ePub format. Book publishers have already begun to standardize on ePub as their e-format of choice. ePub formats are accepted on a wide variety of e-Readers, so content providers won’t have to publish in a different format for each platform.

  My earlier hope, based on Don Nicholas of Mequoda’s prediction that Apple and Amazon would strike a deal to allow Kindle eBooks to be read on the iPad, did not come to fruition. At least not yet. But remember that all iPhone apps will work on the iPad, and there is already a Kindle app for the iPhone. So, you WILL be able to have both your Kindle books and your iBooks on the iPad. While I’m sure that the iPad will seriously damage sales of the single-function, less-sexy Kindle, it may not eat too far into sales of Amazon e-books.

How the iPad Fits into Our Lives. A lot of people are wondering whether consumers need yet another device with yet another form factor. My take is that the iPad will be the device of choice for leisure activity. We’ll use it at home, on airplanes, and on camping trips.

I envision my iPad sitting on the coffee table, next to my favorite chair, with the latest issues of all of my favorite magazines. In fact, I suspect that I will read a lot more magazines on the iPad than I do in paper form. Why? Because they’ll come alive. Magazines will no longer be flat. They’ll be interactive—the way they are on a Web site—but with greater intimacy and sex appeal due to the high resolution screen and the full motion high def video, combined with the interactivity of social media. Steve Jobs describes it as “holding the Internet in your hands.”

I predict that many households will wind up with several iPads, just the way we now have multiple cell phones and laptops—one for each person. In fact, I am worried about the impact on family life. Instead of sitting together to watch a movie or TV show, family members will be sprawled on their separate couches or chairs, each person watching their own personal movie or show, probably with earphones on. On the other hand, gaming will be another killer app for the iPad, so perhaps instead of each watching our individual shows, we’ll play more games together.

Will we use it for business? Probably. In particular, I suspect we’ll use it for online meetings. Instead of sitting at our desks and staring at a computer. We’ll relax in a comfortable chair on the deck and participate in productive meetings.

As someone who already owns an Apple/Windows laptop, an iTouch, a Blackberry, a cell phone, and a Kindle, I know I’ll be buying an iPad too. Then it will be interesting to see which device(s) I gravitate to the most.

Like the rest of the pundits, I was appalled that Steve Jobs apparently made the mistake of continuing his exclusive agreement with AT&T. I hope it expires soon. In the meantime, I’ll use my iPad with Wifi and avoid paying additional connectivity costs. I can’t wait!

Google Android vs. Apple iPhone: Whose App Ecosystem Will Win?

 

The recent buzz about the Verizon/Motorola/Google (An)Droid vs. Apple/AT&T/et al iPhone has revolved around two customer-critical issues and one supplier-critical one (can you guess which is which?):

• Which device+network combo meets customers' usability requirements?
• Which brand evokes the most loyalty?
• Which ecosystem will attract the most apps?

As pundits review and early adopters swarm, I've been noticing a few patterns in the dialog. It's not about the device. Sure, everyone comments about display resolution, keyboard quality (or lack thereof), industrial design, and user interface. But there are also provocative wars of words (and maps) about network availability (in the U.S.—other countries have more pervasive mobile networks than ours). These are the initial barriers to adoption. Do I like it? Can I use it?