With the recent announcement from Apple regarding the forthcoming iPad product, particularly its applicability as an electronic text (e-book) reading device, a number of questions regarding the possible effects it may have upon the book trade should begin to be contemplated. As many people are touting the iPad as being as revolutionary to the written word as the iPod was to recorded music, the potential for it dramatically to change the way books are published, bought, collected, and read is indeed very high. That said, what follows are a few of the questions I have been pondering since the announcement of the iPad. The posting of them here is intended as an invitation to all who may also be contemplating these as well as their own questions on the subject to engage in a discussion that may help all concerned to develop a more rich and nuanced understanding of the topic.
The iPad will apparently use an e-reader application named iBooks. Visually, from what has been seen online at least, this is a very aesthetically appealing application. However will it, like so many other e-readers, only offer a limited number of titles for purchase? Best-sellers and other traditionally popular titles (the Bible, Shakespeare’s plays, etc.) will certainly be produced for this application, but what about, for example, scientific works? As it stands, few natural history titles are available for e-readers. Is this simply a question of scale that will resolve itself if the iPad breathes new life into the e-reader idea and publication in electronic format becomes the norm?
Regarding that last point, should scientific works, as well as more general natural history titles primarily be produced in an electronic format? Given how such works are collected and used – as a reference for what was known about a given subject at a specific point in time – would electronic publication, especially if it becomes the dominant (or even exclusive) format, be a good thing?
Books have traditionally been nearly timeless. So long they are kept dry, away from fire and silverfish, all that is required for their use is an ability to read the language in which they are written. Electronic books require an interface; one that may become obsolete and its replacement not necessarily be backward compatible. Thus a library of electronic books may be essentially held hostage to a new development not occurring – a state of being antithetical to computer technology.
What will the implications be to libraries – especially public ones? A person can get a free library card, check out a book, take it home and read it, then return it back to the library from which they borrowed it. Will this be possible with an iPad? Perhaps a new type of library akin to the NetFlix paradigm might be created, but NetFlix is a for-profit enterprise. Public libraries are a governmentally funded public good that are free to all regardless of their ability to pay. If the more affluent in society are able to afford an iPad and subscribe to a fee-based or membership-based electronic library, not only will society have stepped back two hundred years in terms of the public accessibility to information, the libraries themselves may fall into disrepair as those who can afford to pay the costs required to access a world of electronic books cease to patronize their traditional repositories.
And so long as the questions have taken a sociological turn, as the prices presently published for the iPad product group offer a basic Wi-Fi 16GB model for $499.00 (U.S.) and a top-of-the-line Wi-Fi 3G 64GB model for $829.00, will the iPad simply further the have / have not technology divide? A 160GB Wi-Fi non-Apple netbook can be purchased for $299.00 (or even less), so the iPad is not a viable replacement for the laptop / netbook format, and as the 3G models will also require a monthly service plan with a mobile telephone service provider (at least $60.00 per month), while admittedly a nice addition to the technology kit of those who can afford it, what will motivate a wider population to acquire one? Should they?
These are only a few of the questions which need to be asked about the new iPad and the implications it may have, if successful, upon society. As earlier stated, the iPod completely changed the paradigm of how recorded music is produced, sold, and experienced. It is by no means out of the question that a similar effect might be seen upon the textually based media (indeed, newspaper publishers are already dreaming of the iPad’s potential as a savior for their industry).
These are only the beginnings to much more complex and informed questions, being asked now as, despite other e-reader devices having been in the market for years, none seemed to have the potential for a complete paradigm shift that, thanks to Apple’s brand strength, advertising savvy, and history of innovations that produced profound societal effects, the iPad holds the potential to achieve. In other words, what until now didn’t seem relevant, suddenly seems imperative to contemplate. Thoughts and further questions left as comments to this article are most heartily encouraged.
