Everyone’s all a twitter, er, I mean a flutter over Apple’s iPad. I’ve written a number of 
posts here about it. I am actually excited about it. But there is a possibility that the iPad may end up hurting eBook readers.
I have a Kindle and have a friend who enjoys his Sony reader. I love being able to pull out my Kindle and sample a chapter of a book that someone recommends. I love having a number of translations of the Bible as well as a dozen or more books available in a small device. I love my Kindle. But I think what I really like is that most books are much cheaper on the Kindle than in paper form.
Now that Apple is letting the publishers control much more of the pricing for their soon to
be released iPad, Amazon is trying hard to keep publishers in the fold. Could the cheaper eBook prices go away or at least go up as a result? It is insane that in most markets where competition drives prices down for consumers, this is one arena where it might go up. The reason is that consumers are not as important as the publishers, who are clutching control of their content with a death grip. If these companies do not get the publishers on board there is nothing to sell to consumers. So they are willing to temporarily ignore the best interests of the customers, paying more to publishers in the form of control over pricing. The result is more expensive books for readers.
I believe this is a temporary thing; electronic publishing is going to make books much cheaper eventually. But in the interim those of us with Kindles may have to pay more thanks to Apple’s deal with publishers in the days leading up to iPad’s launch.
Tags: amazon. kindle, apple, books, ebooks, ipad, publishing, reading, Technology
Social networking and Bible study should go together. The iPad may help us in this venture. I read about some interesting key points (thanks to Gizmodo) that Apple wants developers to keep in mind as they prep iPhone and Touch apps for the iPad coming sometime in the next two months. One of the points said:
They’re super into the sharing thing: "Think of ways people might want to use your application with others. Expand your thinking to include both the physical sharing of a single device and the virtual sharing of data."
As I read that I thought again about the thing I am most excited about when it comes to using the new iPad – Bible study. How could developers of Bible study apps incorporate more “sharing” so that we could take advantage of the “application with others”? Already there is some social network built into a few of my favorite Bible apps on iPhone/Touch. YouVersion is probably the best at this with their community based app that can be used by people together in church or together commenting and sharing about the app. My problem is I don’t like the YouVersion’s selection of content or the interface. I also really don’t like only being able to use it online, although you can now download a number of Bibles. While it may be the most downloaded app, it is not more favorite and I don’t have it installed.
Of my favorite Bible apps, Logos can post to Facebook and Twitter from within the app. You can also email verses from within Logos. But there is no two way interaction. Olive Tree syncs notes with Evernote, so I guess there could be some do it yourself interaction there. Neither Laridian PocketBible nor MantisBible have any social interaction at all.
Imagine, if someone would really jump on this with some really useful social interactivity. I could imagine a Bible app that …
- Let’s people share reading plans by marking them to be shared between devices and posted to social networking sights
- Highlighting and other mark-up that is shared in real time. A pastor or Bible study leader wants everyone to look at the word “perish” in John 3:16 so in social networking mode, everyone’s Bible app would sync to the same place (John 3:16) and the word “perish” would be highlighted. Then a note he had already added the word would pop up on everyone’s device with the same content saying “perish means to destroy yourself. God is not responsible for our perishing; we are.” I could then tap a spot in the pop up to save it to my mark-ups or just let it go away once the social networking session is finished.
- What if I had a book on my device that I wanted others to see while we are studying together – like TWOT as we look up an Old Testament Hebrew word. They might have access to TWOT, but for this session they can see it temporarily during the study. There would also be a link somewhere on the other person’s screen giving him/her the opportunity to purchase this book either now or later. This would be a good way to legally share content either temporarily or permanently and would give a revenue stream to the software maker.
- Like YouVersion, it would be nice to have a “wall” where we could post comments or sermon notes so that anyone searching that version could access the public content. There could also be a collaborative way to create content together from within the program that is later searchable.
These are just a few ideas. What would you like to see in this kind of app. I know that some of the Bible app producers read this sight so you can speak to them via this post and comments.
Tags: apple, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, Laridian, Logos, Mantis, Olive Tree, PocketBible, social networking, YouVersion
I was one of those Geeks that watched and wondered as Steve Jobs announced the new Apple iPad (worst name of what looks to be a nice product ever). I am an early adopter Tech geek. So I will be wanting one of these devices as soon as they are released.
As I watched, the first thought that I had was what a valuable tool for Bible study out and around this will be. Currently, I have a very heavy HP laptop. It has a huge 12 cell batter which allows me to sit in a coffee shop or the bread place near me for five or more areas not tethered to the power company. It is nice, but also heavy. I’d love to go lighter and though about a netbook. But those tiny keyboards are horrible for a ham fisted guy like me. But an iPad (ugh! – I hate that name) might do the trick. I don’t know yet.
But while my favorite Bible study apps will run on it out of the box, there are going to have to be some improvements to allow me to do full-time Bible study on it. Maybe these will never take place. But here is what I see as the most important improvements needed.
Logos iPhone App Running in Ipad
- Since there is no multi-tasking (the ability to switch from the Bible study app to a word processor and back without closing one to open the other) there needs to be two things. First, there needs to be a good word processor in the app. I’m not talk MS Word quality but MS Works quality or even less. Maybe something as good as Notes with formatting and styles and footnoting. I won’t likely leave my content there, but I want to be able to write my sermon or Bible study in the app. When I am done, I can export it or copy/paste it into something like Docs To Go or the word processor Apple has created for the iPad. Second, there must be the option to open the app exactly as I left it. This is not a big deal for most of the current Bible study apps for iPhone/iPod Touch. But one or two do not remember your lost location. The Logos iPhone app always loads to what I call there ad page. It contains your Reading Plan as well as announcements from the company. But if I am studying in a commentary and have to exit Logos to write in my word processor, I want to quickly go back to that spot I was studying before.
- Split Screen view at least. With more screen real estate to work with, there is no good reason not to have a split screen view with one book open in one half and the other open in the other half. This is already possible in some apps, but not many.
I would love to hear other ideas. I will add good ones to this list.
Tags: apple, Bible, Bible Software, Bible Study, Digital Bible Study, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, Logos
posts here about it. I am actually excited about it. But there is a possibility that the iPad may end up hurting eBook readers.
be released iPad, Amazon is trying hard to keep publishers in the fold. Could the cheaper eBook prices go away or at least go up as a result? It is insane that in most markets where competition drives prices down for consumers, this is one arena where it might go up. The reason is that consumers are not as important as the publishers, who are clutching control of their content with a death grip. If these companies do not get the publishers on board there is nothing to sell to consumers. So they are willing to temporarily ignore the best interests of the customers, paying more to publishers in the form of control over pricing. The result is more expensive books for readers.
