The iPad was recently unveiled, and it was billed as an ereader. The demo even featured an app that was supposed to simulate a bookshelf, so you can browse through all your books like a real bookshelf, it was very cool. The iPad also had a really cool page turning animation that made it seem like you were turning the page of a real book, and like all Apple products the interface was intuitive, response and unique all while managing to draw some impressed ohs and ahs from anyone who is seeing one for the first time.
Here is what the iPad is not - an actual ereader, it is just an LCD screen that has a special application to let you read books. Why doesn't anyone read novels on computer screens? Because looking into a big panel of light strains your eyes and makes it difficult to read for extended periods of time. It's much more comfortable to read from a printed page, this is what the advance in technology that the Kindle and other ereaders provided: a way to read electronically without a backlit, eye-straining computer screen. So, really, the iPad doesn't solve the problem we've had with reading on computers that has existed for decades, it is just a fancy laptop with a special application for reading.
It's worth mentioning that since the Apple uses a regular computer screen, their books display full color images and potentially movies, which eReaders cannot currently do.
The other major launch to go along with the iPad was the Apple Bookstore, similar to iTunes music store, but for books, currently most, but not all, major publishers are signed on to have their books sold on the Apple Bookstore, and apparently many smaller publishers will do so as well, so it is easy to anticipate that Apple will have a large selection of books, but it will not be at the same level that the well established Amazon bookstore will have for a long time, if ever, and as of now, generally speaking, the Apple Bookstore charges more (most Kindle books are $10, while many in the Apple store will be closer to $15)
Also, the Bookstore does not have nearly the subscriptions to newspapers, blogs, and magazines that the Kindle store does.
The big plus for the Bookstore is that Amazon uses its own proprietary format (which is something that the industry leader often does - the iTunes store uses a unique music format that, for a long time, was very restrictive about copying) while the Apple Bookstore uses the common ePub format. What does that mean for you? It means that these ePub books can be read on a number of devices, while the Amazon format can only be read on Amazon approved products, which at the moment is the Kindle, iPhones, and registered computers.
If you were expecting the iPad to be a combination of an eReader and a tablet PC, sadly that is not yet the case, the eReader portion of the device is more hype than substance, but the iPad is still an excellent choice as a portable computer, but as an ereader the Kindle still is the better device, hands down.
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