jmarbach.com » iPad

First E-Book Experience

John Marbach — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:20 +0000

This week I’ve finally purchased my first real e-book. The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser.

After my high school graduation last month I was fortunate to receive an Apple iPad. Am I much of a laggard? Maybe. I tend to hold off on the first iteration of any new product release. During the past few weeks I’ve been navigating my way around my iPad 2 wifi version. Just a couple days ago I downloaded Kindle app with the hope of finding real productivity on my tablet device.

I’ve been happy with the Kindle app for my reading. A few observations of things that have been most useful:

Mobile ads are big business, they are installed on almost every free app.
My book comes with me wherever I travel.
Ability to highlight lines and search for definition of obscure words.
Kindle app syncs my progress across all devices, android, iPad, and desktop.
Instant access to more books!
Reliable battery life. (This is crucial.)

I didn’t expect to be using my iPad as my primary e-reader. Although, I think the iPad is so appealing because it’s low maintenance and it only requires one or two unique user experiences (e-reading) to make it worthwhile. There are a few other important apps which are nagging at my attention, such as the recently released ShowMe App which is enabling teachers to flip the classroom. It will be interesting to see if any other excellent content creation mechanisms evolve on the iOS platform.

I’m looking forward to posting more about my thoughts on The Filter Bubble, and why we need to be cautious about a world that revolves around our likes and interests.

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The State of the Kindle

John Marbach — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:51:34 +0000

Last week marked an important milestone for Amazon customers and anyone else looking to establish a digital library. Amazon released details on its newest Kindle generation as they plan to ship the revolutionary reading device towards the end of August. Special arrangements made for the announcement of the new and improved Kindle include showing a personal letter written from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to visitors on the Amazon.com home page. In addition, Bezos made an appearance on PBS to do an interview with Charlie Rose last week, where he answered many pressing questions regarding the Kindle as well as the tablet PC market.

Take a look at the interview, the insight on the newest Kindle as well as other potential customers is worth tuning in.

Some highlights from the interview include:

Bezos believes the Kindle has the ability to transcend the readers mind into visualizing solely the page, just like a book.
Amazon has a leg up on the competition because their mission is to be “the earth’s most customer centric company”.
The Kindle price point is affordable, unlike the iPad among other e-readers.
Over 600,000 books are available on the Kindle in 60 seconds or less. (Most for $9.99 or less)
Clothing is the fastest growing segment on Amazon. Their philosophy is buy 3, return the 2 that don’t fit.
Bezos projects that in the future, people in society will fulfill their needs through an array of devices.
- Kindle for reading, smart-phone, laptop, tablet PC.
The new Kindle’s one month battery lifespan relieves battery power anxiety.
The Apple iPad is not a competitor to the Kindle because it offers one of the best web-browsers. Therefore, more customers are shopping on Amazon.com.

Apple’s iPad: One Month Later

John Marbach — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:37:49 +0000

Leading up to the release of the Apple iPad, the tech world was buzzing all winter long after Apple released its plan on January 27th to sell its new touch screen tablet computer starting on April 2nd. Given the amount of press coverage this innovative product recieved over the last month, its hard to ignore and can not be passed by. The most recent one being their official release on the sale of the one millionth iPad, which provoked me to dig deeper into the subject.

Courtesy of allaboutgeorge of Flickr.com and Creative Commons

By taking a look at similar product releases in Apple’s past, one common trait can be seen among all of their new products: they take a high demand technology that’s in its early stages and then combine that with their marketing and design choices to characterize their product as the most innovative and advanced choice available. The iPad is no exception. First, the iPad’s most distinct characteristic is that it is a fully functional portable computer, which operates very similar to its already existing iPod touch, which has been widely popular because of its touch screen technology that was first unveiled on the iPhone. In other words, we’ve seen touch screen technology, 3G access, and portable laptops before, but never all in the same box. Apple packed the necessary computer components (minus a keyboard) into a slim metal case, and thats what has allowed them to market the iPad as the most convenient and versatile computer ever.

Now lets look at the iPad strictly from a numbers point of view:

1,000,000 iPad’s sold in 28 days. (All Wi-Fi-only models, 3G launched separately on April 30th.)

$499,000,000 Gross sales revenue. (Assuming all units sold were the 16GB model to error on the safe side. $499/each)

$260,000,000 Bill of Materials estimate. $260/each. (48% profit margin)

$239,000,000 Net Profit

Or 2,419,200 seconds in 28 days, which equates to $98.79 profit per second.

Now, this is just assuming their cheapest model available and not considering other imperative variables to the sales funnel. Either way, Apple is doing historic sales numbers on the hardware alone, just imagine the possibilities when revenue streams such as international sales, App Store commissions, and accessories are factored in. Once again Apple strikes into the market flawlessly, proving their technological drive within the tech industry as a whole. I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple once again fights off the slow competition, except this time at the touch of a screen.