With the advent of the web, comic books experienced quite a revitalization after fans started scanning them, posting them up in online comic communities and making them available for everyone to read. To avoid being late for the party as music publishers were with online music sharing, comic publishers like Marvel quickly stepped in and started publishing their comics digitally. Marvel has been selling them through its store Digital Comics since 2007 already.
Your PC display won’t cut it
Just like with e-books, a computer screen just isn’t the most comfortable way to read a comic. Computer displays tire your eyes quickly, especially when you’re reading content. And the fact that you can’t really hold your computer like you would a comic doesn’t help the viewing experience either.
Panelfly on the iPhone
Now the iPhone was mostly meant to be used as phone, a digital communication device and to quickly browse the web. However, data shows that a high proportion of users actually use their iPhone to read e-books, comic books and magazines; and lots of them. Applications like Panelfly make it possible to download, save and read comics on the iPhone with great simplicity. All good, right? Well, that iPhone screens just seems a tad bit too tiny to read a comic on that is supposed to be the size of a Letter or A4 page.
The iPad and comics
Here’s the good news: Panelfly announced they are developing an iPad version of their comic book application. The iPad is perfect read comics on. Just like with your comic book you can walk around, lie down or put it against the wall while you read it. The app will feature an interface matched to the iPad; details are scarce but it seems to be looking really good according to Gizmodo. Panelfly already supports Marvel Comics, so you can buy those with ease. Details on how purchasing comics will happen on the iPad with Panelfly are still unknown.
Apple has remained silent if it will include comic books in the announced iBookstore. Many sources say they won’t, as the iBookstore app just is not optimized for the multimedial experience comics can bring.
The future is dynamic content
Seeing how magazine publishers are already mentioning adding dynamic multimedia objects in their magazines like audio and video, I can only speculate that the same thing might happen to digital comics in the future. What about moving to the next page of your comic and seeing Batman jump in to the page fighting the Riddler for some seconds, then slowing down and changing into a still comic book page again? I can’t wait!
Have you been reading comics on your iPhone or other mobile device? Does it work for you and how do you expect the iPad to change things for comic readers around the world? Tell me in the comments!
The moment the tech world has been waiting on for possibly decades, maybe years and definitely months has finally culminated into today…
The official launch of Apple’s highly anticipated tablet device: the iPad. Tablet computers have had a rowdy history. Developed as pen computers in the early nineties to Tablet PC is the naughties and culminating into the iPad.
Tablet computers’ rowdy history
Tablets have been announced and denounced as the future of personal computing for decades. In 1991, they were dubbed pen computers. Focussing on handwriting recognition and interaction by a pen instead of fingers, software developers like Microsoft started including Pen Extensions into Windows 3.1 making it compatible with these pen computers.
Microsoft predicted these computers would take over the consumer market in a matter of years, and hardware developers such as IBM, Samsung, Fujitsu and Toshiba quickly followed up to support the new technology with their new touchscreen devices.
Tech press was positive but consumers were not ready for it yet. The devices simply did not sell. Millions of dollars in investment were not recouped and instead lost forever.
Pulling the tablet out of the niche
In 2000, Bill Gates tried again. He was still a firm believer that this technology could succeed. Re-dubbing the pen computer into the Tablet PC, Microsoft had relative success at stirring up the industry again. Touchscreen technology had developed rapidly since the 1990s fiasco and it was clear that the keyboard would at least for now not be replaced with handwriting technology. These developments made it possible for new devices to enter the market.
However, it still was not really taking off. Even in 2007, offered by majors like Dell and HP, the tablet devices were simply too expensive with prices ranging from $1,500 up to $5,000 and staying in the premium and business niche. One of the first actually cheap devices entering the market and still including a keyboard (being covered by our sister blog) were the Taiwanese ASUS Tablets with models like the ASUS Eee PC T91 and T101 selling unexpectedly well in the consumer market. ASUS’s inferior specifications however resulted in relatively slow devices.
And then Apple stepped in…
Rumors about a tablet device by Apple have been circulating the web for years now and we took part in covering on what was simply wrong, might be true and what was definitely truth. In the last year, the rumors even started seaping into the mainstream (including paper) press coverage, showing the impact of Apple possibly launching a new device on the consumer tech world.
The stories spoke about if an Apple tablet was coming up, what it would look like (with artists all over the web rendering their own 3d interpretations), which specifications it would have and which chips the tablet would run on.
And in the last few months, rumors focused on the tablet possibly offering e-book functionality, making it a serious contender against Amazon’s Kindle e-reader. With The New York Times, Vogue, GQ, Wired and Harper-Collins already rumoring to have signed up to Apple’s content program, this made things all the more interesting.
“Come see our latest creation” says Apple
Today, the moment has arrived to see what is fact and what is fiction and how this device will supposedly change the world. In a packed and excited conference hall Apple invited worldwide press and technology pundits to “Come see our latest creation“, as the invitation read.
Steve Jobs presented us with the tablet device by Apple called the iPad. Video below.
The Apple iPad’s insides
First of all, the iPad comes in two flavours: the standard WiFi-enabled edition and the premium 3G-enabled edition with makes it possible to transfer data over AT&T’s data network. No contract with AT&T is required, however it is obvious that it will cost you to use their network.
Notable specs we really did not expect: the by Apple in-house produced A4 1 GHz processor – we were honestly thinking more of an Intel Duo Core 2 GHz as found in the Apple MacBook range. Earlier we reported the nVidia GeForce 9400M to be in the Apple Tablet. However, this one is missing; the Apple A4 chip seems to be responsible for all video processing in the iPad. Our designs of the Apple Tablet (see the background of this website or previous posts) was pretty close but did not include such a big border as the iPad. Apple has not chosen for this kind of screen for aesthetic reasons but simply to keep costs down. Cheaper screens need more technology on the sides of the displays and therefore the border is so large. We expected a USB port, to enable you to use USB data sticks and external third-party devices on your iPad but for unknown reasons Apple has made the mistake to not include this. Finally, we were wrong by 0.1″ in the size of the display; we expected 9.6″ and the iPad has a 9.7″ display.
No voice calling is available as the iPad is a data-only device. However, we have enough voice-over-ip (VOIP) options like Skype and Fring to choose from to make this possible any way; just after the iPad launch Apple has unlocked VOIP calling on the iPhone.
Focus on content and e-reading
The rumors were correct and Apple has made many deals with book, magazine and news publishers to make their content available on the iPad. Which publishers these are is until now unannounced. If we look at how the iTunes store quickly filled up with music as the major labels signed up, then this should not be such a great obstacle for Apple.
Yes, there were MP3 music stores before iTunes arrived, but Apple stirred up the music industry world due to it being such a major player in the personal computer industry, both in hardware and software. Yes, there are now e-book stores such as Amazon.com, but again Apple is bigger than those and can forge deals with major publishers more easy. In addition to facing Amazon as a competitor in e-books selling and the hardware for it (Amazon offers the Kindle e-reader), Apple will also soon face Google’s Books program which is creating deals with content publishers rapidly and currently offers the most book content out of anyone. Google plans to start selling books soon in PDF and other formats.
What you might miss on the iPad
Yes, there are some notable features missing on the iPad that are to be found on either the iPhone or a standard MacBook; the iPad does not carry a camera. It will not run Adobe Flash, making it disabled as the majority of the web uses Flash to present its content in some way including YouTube for its video streaming. Like the iPhone, the iPad also does not support multi-tasking. This is a disadvantage as much as its an advantage, it increases stability but decreases functionality. There are mixed reports about the WiFi model having a GPS chip or not; the keynote stated it would not, but Apple’s website states it will. This might have been a last-minute choice by Apple after seeing the negative press reactions on this.
Apple iPad specifications
Finally, let’s look at the numbers and data. Here’s the Apple iPad specs.
Apple launched the iPad (or Apple Tablet) today in a storm of worldwide press coverage and guess what? AppleTablet.net was right on pretty much all the specifications!
The Amazon Kindle e-book reader will be out of the market in a bang when Apple introduces the Apple Tablet (or iPad), says Steve Jobs.
The Apple Tablet will be a touchscreen MacBook used for functions as broad as browsing the web, watching movies, writing notes, playing games, and now it becomes interesting: as a device to read e-books on.
In an interview with the New York Times yesterday, Steve Jobs has hinted pretty strongly at Apple’s plans for the future. He criticizes Amazon’s Kindle strongly and continues to state that if there will be a device like the Kindle from Apple, it will be a multi-purpose device. Such as a tablet computer. Additionally he states that Apple does not see e-books as a market to move into at this point due to lack of scale.
It’s a good point. Why would a person on the move want to hold his mobile phone, media player, (touchscreen) laptop, also his e-book reader. It’s not realistic. The e-book reader is for a different kind of market. Avid book readers that stay at home, not mainstream multi-purpose media consumers.
“I’m sure there will always be dedicated devices, and they may have a few advantages in doing just one thing. But I think the general-purpose devices will win the day. Because I think people just probably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated device.”, Steve said.
We told you a few months ago the rumors of the Apple tablet (or iPad) would soon converge into reality. And we were right! This week, an unnamed analyst apparently played with the Apple tablet prototype. The analyst has told that the device will be announced in September and released in November. In Apple stores first, with retail stores following soon after. The screen will probably be a 10.1″ size running a 1440 by 1050 widescreen resolution.
Additionally, other manufacturers are reportedly waiting on the release of the Apple tablet to see if they are still continuing with their product line up. Like usual when Apple releases a new product, it sends shockwaves through the consumer and business marketplace and manufacturers quickly step up their game. It happened with the huge influx of touchscreen smartphones after the launch of the Apple iPhone and obviously it will happen again with the release of the Apple tablet.
Finally, HTC, Nokia, Intel and Dell are reportedly working on their own tablets to compete with Apple. Now it seems pretty logical Apple did not want to admit they were working on a tablet, huh? They did not want the competition to be ahead of them.
To inform you, we have updated the specifications for you.
Apple tablet specifications:
Release date:
Apple stores: November 2009
Retail stores: December 2009
Display:
10.1″ widescreen multi-touch display
1440-by-1050-pixel resolution at 489 ppi
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.13GHz
Memory: DDR2 2 GB @ 667 MHz
Video: nVidia GeForce 9400M
Storage: 64 GB flash drive
Optical drive: Apple SuperDrive with DVD±RW and CD-RW
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Apple has remained silent if it will include comic books in the announced iBookstore. Many sources say they won’t, as the iBookstore app just is not optimized for the multimedial experience comics can bring.
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Books & Magazines, Editorial, iPad News | Heather Richardson | Monday, March 8th, 2010
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