I was browsing through the iTunes store yesterday and thinking about it being the digital equivalent of visiting Tower Records or HMV with Blockbuster added on. Already in the store: games and other iPod/iPhone software, films, TV series, audiobooks, music, podcasts, university lectures.
The rumoured addition of books, and perhaps more advanced software for the Tablet/Slate, if true will make it a real one stop shop for entertainment of all kinds. The only thing being that you need the Apple kit to start off with if you want to go beyond watching films and listening to music on your desktop/laptop.
Although there are separate book/ebook programs for organizing files, such as Adobe's Digital Editions and Bookpedia (and for researchers, Mendeley), the mainstream will find it hard to resist having one place for the majority of their needs. This won't stop the more determined from searching out books that don't make it to the store from different providers and in different formats (digital and physical), but it will mean that a healthy chunk of business can be expected to go to the iTunes store.
When it comes to things like gaming and software applications on mobile phones, I don't think the dominance of the iTunes store is necessarily a bad thing (especially as a model). Not only do the games and apps represent good value in comparison to games for other mobile platforms, but if you are someone who frequently upgrades to the newest model, they also offer a far better way of storing and transferring your purchases to new (and I believe multiple - but correct me if I'm wrong) devices than other mobile options.
By way of example, some of the warnings on Nokia's site about transferring purchased applications and games provide an illustration of the alternative scenario:
"Copying or moving contacts, calendar items, add-on applications*, or games* may not work smoothly with a memory card. For these, try moving the information via Bluetooth or PC."
"* Not all applications or games are compatible with all phone models. Check with the provider of the application for phone model compatibility. Information on free applications from Nokia is included on the phone model's Support pages: select your phone model from Product support."
Having written this, if you buy a game for an iPod Nano or Classic you can't use this on, for example, an iPhone, iPod Touch or on your PC. Since, the expectations one has of backward and cross compatibility with desktop and laptop computers are not transferable - or so it would seem - to this realm, which is closer to that of games consoles.
In contrast, content (such as books and magazines) should, like music, be transferable between devices and to a certain extent platforms.
I'm expecting that Apple will want their own format if they are going to sell interactive magazines but hope, based on the past, that they will provide open technologies alongside their proprietary ones and with them the ability to convert files between the two or more options (as they did with AAC and MP3 in music). The iTunes store after all has a tradition of free and paid content existing alongside one another.
Undeniably technology costs money. While books (and even magazines) might get cheaper, the total cost of ownership is unlikely to decrease and may well go up, as we find ourselves upgrading hardware, buying backup drives, etc.
Undeniably technology costs money. While books (and even magazines) might get cheaper, the total cost of ownership is unlikely to decrease and may well go up, as we find ourselves upgrading hardware, buying backup drives, etc.
Due to this cost of hardware, I expect one of the first type of books to gain popularity will be classics and books out of copyright, since they are freely available on the Internet for download and experimentation. The question is will this damage publishers like Penguin and Oxford University Press, which generate income from classic lists to supplement other areas? Not necessarily, because the iTunes model has already proven with other types of product that it is a successful platform for paid as well as free content. So while one area of sales may well go down in value another might go up.
The best thing to do now is sit and wait to see what Apple has in store for 27 January 2010, because even if Apple do not convince us to buy books in the same digital way that we buy music nobody in the industry seems to doubt that their new device will be a decisive moment in the future of book and magazine buying.
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