Computer-iPad
As a node of the network, the computer is undoubtedly the earliest terminal equipment for digital reading, because a considerable number of digital publications are spread by means of the Internet when digital publishing is just starting.
In recent years, with the continuous progress of technology, computers have developed from desktop computers to notebooks, netbooks, and recently hot tablet computers. Along the way, some functions fade out of the stage, while others are increasingly sought after. Digital reading belongs to the latter.
For desktops, notebooks and netbooks, the packaging service does not include hardware and software related to the digital publishing industry. Users can choose to install some software to read digital publications according to their own needs, and then get paid or free e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines and so on. From some websites. These publications can be read online or offline by readers according to their copyright status and kept permanently. Perhaps it is because no matter what kind of computer screen can get a comfortable reading experience, the computer, as a terminal reading device, never brought about a great revolution in digital reading before the iPad appeared.
Overview of iPad. This is Apple's latest tablet computer. As a computer, iPad meets people's requirements for portability. At the same time, it can be compatible with all Apple online software applications and fully support the functions of music, video, pictures, email and so on of the iPod. Among them, the built-in program ibooks has great influence on the field of digital reading.
Performance analysis. IBooks is a program for reading and buying e-books. Users can buy all kinds of classic books and bestsellers through the built-in iBook store. The purchased books will be displayed on the user's personal iBook shelf bookshelf, and can be read by lightly touching the books. LED backlight screen and high resolution enable readers to read comfortably in low light environment.
No matter from the performance of digital reading or the overall appearance, iPad is similar to Kindle. But the iPad is much more powerful. Because iPad is a computer above all, it is more powerful than Kindle, and Kindle is only used as a reader. Secondly, iPad can meet more needs of users to read e-books. The appearance of iPad has brought about a change in the way of reading e-books, that is, readers will change from pure text reading to multimedia reading. In addition to browsing text, pictures and videos, readers can also post comments behind related content, which is highly interactive. Take The New York Times website as an example. The iPad is specially equipped with The New York Times's digital program. The title of the homepage is constantly updated, mixed with a series of pictures, videos, user comments, links from other sources and documentary news reports.
Weigh the pros and cons Does the iPad have enough influence to shake the Kindle's leading position in e-readers? There is no doubt that Amazon and Apple will compete in the publishing and retail fields of the future e-book market, but it is still difficult to decide who will win or lose.
As far as the current e-book resources are concerned, iPad has cooperated with Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon &; Five publishing groups, Schuster, Macmillan and Asett Book Group, reached an agreement on providing e-book content; Random House also expressed the hope to further communicate with Apple; New york Times Group, News Corporation, Kant-nast Group and other media also cooperated with it. It's hard to compete with Kindle's 300,000 books, 29 magazines and 38 newspapers. The iPad allows publishers to set their own prices, which will undoubtedly give them more partners, but its appeal to users will be weakened. It is very important to find this delicate balance.
The fatal problem of iPad is that, as a computer, it lacks many functions that a computer should have, such as no camera, no interface, and no multitasking mode. These will be the reasons that hinder iPad sales. Another problem is that the price is much more expensive than Kindle (Kindle 259-489 dollars, iPad is 499-829 dollars), and the average price of downloading books is slightly higher than Kindle (Kindle is 9.9 dollars/book/time, iPad is 8-15 dollars/book/time). People have every reason to buy a Kindle instead of an iPad on the basis of owning a notebook. If so, the iPad is likely to become a chicken rib.
Zhou Qingshan, a professor in the Department of Information Management in Peking University, pointed out that iPad combined the new property rights model and profit model under the network environment and realized business innovation. The development of iPad to e-reader depends on whether people can accept the use mode of "mobile phone computer plus e-reader". Secondly, whether the iPad can be accepted by users in the supporting development of "standards, application software, hardware supply and accessories".
Apple has seized the e-reader market as a computer, but its understanding of "publishing" cannot be ignored, which is different from it. Publishing is a spiritual product that affects human ideology and values. Although it is digital, the published content still needs to conform to the cultural customs, consumption habits, laws and regulations of each sales area in the face of different countries and regions.
E-reader-Kindle
E-reader can be said to be a banner in the era of digital reading, which is different from computers and mobile phones-neither of them originally appeared for digital reading. E-reader is born for digital reading consumption and is the most professional terminal reading equipment.
Under the impetus of Amazon Kindle, the e-reader market is booming all over the world. Nook of Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Sony reader of Sony Company and domestic readers in recent two years have jointly occupied the market. Numerous reading terminals are available for readers to choose from, which makes the field of digital reading gain unprecedented development vitality. Kindle is still the best example of e-reader success.
Kindle overview. As early as 2006, Sony had launched the Sony reader, an e-book reader, but it didn't cause any response. A year later, Amazon launched the Kindle, an e-book reader. It was sold out as soon as it was launched, and it was even out of stock.
Performance analysis. Now there are three models of Kindle (Kindle, Kindle2 and kindlex), the first generation of Kindle has almost disappeared (not discussed in this article), and Kindle2 and kindlex (hereinafter referred to as Kindle) have become the mainstream. The difference between the two is that the screen size and memory of the latter is slightly larger than the former, which is more suitable for reading newspapers.
Kindle is exquisite and light, and has powerful memory. Its thickness is less than 1 cm, which is less than the thickness and weight of an ordinary book. But the memory is 2G or 4G, which can probably store 1500-3000 books. At the same time, the Kindle uses an electronic ink display (iPad does not use it), which will make your eyes feel tired.
Through Kindle, users can download books, newspapers and magazines in digital format from the Internet, and the downloading process takes less than one minute. At the same time, users can also buy newspapers on the spot, or pay a monthly fee to order newspapers, magazines and blogs every day of the month. Newspaper content is distributed overnight, while blog content is distributed several times a day. Although Amazon is not the first company to sell this kind of e-book reader, its method of distributing e-books may bring brand-new applications to mobile data networks.
Weigh the pros and cons For foreign successful cases, Wang Bangjiang, general manager of Hanwang Technology E-book Division, believes that Amazon Kindle has three major advantages: First, it captures the needs of readers; Second, it makes good use of Amazon's own content advantages; Third, it provides a wireless download function. There is no doubt that the appearance of Kindle is pleasing to the eye, just as iPod once swept the world. At the same time, Amazon wirelessly transmits the contents of books and newspapers to Kindle readers, without USB, PC and service charges. Everything is simple and quick. This is very in line with people's consumption needs today. It is difficult for domestic e-readers to download wirelessly anytime and anywhere, which is related to the coverage of our wireless network. In addition, the most important point is that there is a powerful Amazon content library behind the Kindle, which is a huge resource library with hundreds of thousands of books. This fully shows that even in the era of digital reading, the principle that content is king will not change. However, there are only a few thousand downloadable books in domestic e-readers, and the update of content database can't keep up with the progress of knowledge and culture, which seriously affects the development process of digital reading in China.
In my opinion, the factor that restricts the kindle from entering the homes of ordinary people is the price. Limited by the high price of products, this kind of digital reading did not spread quickly. For a long time, Amazon Electronics has always insisted on attracting customers at a low price of $9.99, but McGraw Hill thinks that the price of books is too low and asks Amazon to increase the price of its e-books on Amazon. In the end, Amazon compromised in this dispute and was willing to raise prices. Rising prices have discouraged some customers, although Amazon doesn't want this.
Mobile phone-3G
As a terminal device for digital reading, mobile phones have only begun to rise in recent years. With the development of 3G, mobile phone reading has become an indispensable part of digital reading. According to the 25th statistical report on China's Internet development, by the end of 2009, 77.8% of users in China had used the mobile phone online chat service, which is still the primary application of mobile phone surfing. The second place is mobile phone reading, and the proportion of users accounts for 75.4% of the total number of mobile phone netizens. Mobile news websites, mobile novels, mobile newspapers and other services have become one of the most important applications that affect mobile Internet users.
Overview of 3G. 3G(third-generation), the abbreviation of the third generation mobile communication technology, refers to the cellular mobile communication technology that supports high-speed data transmission, that is, a new generation mobile communication system that combines wireless communication with multimedia communication such as the Internet. 3G service can transmit voice (call) and data information (e-mail, instant message, etc.) simultaneously. Nowadays, the combination of wap and web is a trend. For example, the popular Weibo website has already joined this application (that is, mobile phone updates Weibo).
Applied analysis. The contents of 3G mobile phone reading are mainly news, mobile phone novels and Weibo.
Due to the fast pace of life, people gradually tend to accept fragmented information anytime and anywhere. Mobile phones have strong mobility and small capacity, which makes the information presented by mobile phones short and mainly for recreation, which coincides with people's reading tendency today. Therefore, mobile phone reading has broad prospects.
Mobile phones are increasingly becoming a window for people to know the news. With the help of a small window on the palm of your hand, people can learn about news events at home and abroad and hope to get information. According to the analysis of iResearch, there are about 65.438+0.2 billion people who use mobile phones to read, and there are about 25 million mobile phone users who never read newspapers, magazines or websites. The main way for them to get information is to read the information content through their mobile phones. At the same time, mobile phone literature is also a part that cannot be ignored.
Development suggestion. It is necessary to formulate supervision measures for mobile phone publishing to ensure the orderly and benign development of digital publishing environment.
As the mobile phone as the terminal equipment of digital reading has just started in China, there are still various problems in the domestic mobile phone reading market, such as mixed content, chaotic charging mode, lack of copyright protection, and many related management methods and supervision mechanisms are not perfect. It is particularly important to formulate standards for mobile publishing. As Wei Yushan, deputy director of China Publishing Science Research Institute, said, standardization is the foundation of industrialization. Without standards, it is difficult to make great strides and develop. This problem also exists in digital reading of computers and e-readers.
3G not only brings opportunities for mobile phone publishing, but also brings another revolution in digital reading. Operators, digital publishers and traditional publishers will focus on such a brand-new market. With effective supervision means, it will provide a good development environment for mobile publishing, and digital reading will be further promoted and popularized.