Thoughts On Kindle Vs. iBooks

November 27th, 2010

This post comes after several months using the Kindle and iBooks apps on the iPhone and iPad.

First, am totally sold on and reading eBooks in both programs for several reasons:

• Convenience: The iPhone is always present. Much easier than lugging along an in-progress book or several for a trip.
• Bookmarks: both apps remember where you stop reading, even across devices — I can read on the iPhone during a commute, then pick up reading right where I left off, on the iPad when I get home.
• Am totally fine with reading on an LCD screen. I stare at a monitor for hours during an average work day, then an LCD screen in the form of a television many evenings. The Kindle reader’s eInk might be better, but I’d rather carry a multifunction device than an iPhone plus a Kindle.
• No paranoia about these particular eBook formats being rendered obsolete; Amazon and Apple aren’t going anywhere.

Some differences between Kindle and iBooks:

• I prefer iBook’s interface. The realism isn’t that cheesy since the pages turn so quickly. Particularly cool is seeing the page lightly, in reverse, through the page as you turn it. Also nice is the display on an iPad in widescreen mode, showing two pages side by side complete with spine between.
• One can push free ePub content to iBooks via iTunes, but the process was time-consuming enough that I’d rather just buy stuff through the iBookstore. Purchasing music, apps, and TV shows through the iTunes Store has trained me well.
• The Kindle selection is much superior; several titles appear there that are unavailable through the iBookstore. Prices are comparable.
• The Kindle is better supported by different devices. There’s Kindle for iPad, iPhone, computers, and the Kindle hardware. There’s a sense Amazon could abandon the Kindle hardware and you’d still have a choice of devices to read your Kindle books. This strategy is similar to Netflix Watch Instantly appearing computers and all sorts of television-connected hardware.

In conclusion, while I prefer the iBooks interface, Amazon’s larger content selection means I’ve purchased more Kindle eBooks.