October 9, 2008
Apple's iPhone Takes Lead in Reader Race
According to Forbes, Apple’s iPhone is now a more popular e-book reader than Amazon.com’s Kindle. And the iPhone may just be getting warmed up.
A free application called Stanza — designed by a company called Lexcycle and made available through Apple’s iPhone App Store — has been downloaded 395,000 times since it was released in July. That’s already enough to outpace the 380,000 Kindles that are expected to sell this year, according to Forbes. But the rate of Stanza downloads is steadily increasing, so the iPhone e-readers could be far more common than Kindle users by the end of 2008.
Next up for Lexcycle is a plan to expand the iPhone library, which as of now only contains books in the public domain. The Kindle, by contrast, offers more than 180,000 titles, including new releases. —David DeBolt
Posted on Thursday October 9, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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They could just wait until Tom Clancy’s grippers hit the public domain and are ready to slug it out with My Ántonia.
As it “expand[s]” — i.e., creates — the iPhone library of more-recent e-books, Lexcycle will have to start charging for that software download, just as what used to be called readers begin tiring of the small iPhone screen. My money — if there’s any left — is still on actual books, with all their must and inefficiency and torn pages.
— S. Britchky Oct 9, 06:28 PM #
I agree. I own and adore the Kindle, but I use it only for travel, to avoid having to carry the weight of the number of books needed to get through flights, flight delays, long hours in the airport, on planes, and trains. As much as I enjoy the Kindle, with a book like size and shape and a good sized screen and choice of text size, it’s stayed parked in a drawer while I read real books.
— curious Oct 10, 07:07 AM #
I too have been an e-book reader skeptic; however, Stanza on my iPod Touch has pushed me over the edge. It’s lightweight and something I carry anyway (unlike the Kindle). You have control over margins, background and text color. I will still always prefer real books, but, now I can carry Proust on the subway… and I imagine students would love to be able to not lug so many books around all day… one added bonus – you can read the New York Times free in downloaded version, that works on the subway and doesn’t need a network connection to read…and, of course, it’s not beige….
— Subway reader Oct 10, 09:23 AM #
Ebooks don’t have to replace print books in order to be successful. Sitting on my couch or lying in bed, I much prefer a printed book. But what ebooks (especially on my iPhone) allow me to do is read a book at times when I don’t usually have a book with me — in the elevator, in line at the bank, waiting for my kid’s soccer practice to finish. This development is huge.
— Rick Anderson Oct 10, 10:14 AM #
I don’t have Stanza on my iPhone yet, but I will. I purchased a Kindle 6 weeks ago and don’t intend to look back. For me, the experience is better than print. And note this: I’ve read somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 books in my life. I love books. But they are now outdated.
— Terry Calhoun Oct 10, 12:58 PM #
I have been reading ebooks on my PDA and now my iPhone for at least 5 years. I love the convenience. I still like books and have a few on my nightstand but my iPhone lets me read anywhere, in the dark, and the build-in dictionary lets me look up words on the fly. It’s particularly nice to be able to look up quickly a character I have forgotten. Ebooks let you look up the initial introduction of that character instantly.
— Kelly Aune Oct 10, 02:38 PM #