Apples Got it Down to the Core with Mobile Digital Platforms
It seems that even the e-reader business didn’t last long as Nook sales fell 22% since last year and it is likely these falls are down to the means of those handy little gadgets that sit in our back pockets yet control our every move - even Amazon are in the process of releasing a Smartphone to compete (Wasserman, 2014). Amazon released the ‘Kindle App’ in 2009 followed by several other brands (Neil, 2009) allowing any handset holder to download virtual libraries right from their pocket for free on different digital platform apps (Dachis, 2012).
Just to throw it out there, a mobile is an everyday necessity, holding the key to our hearts, futures and our cybernetic circles so when the print market is declining and the digital market is inclining, is it possible that people would want just the one device that did it all? (Hall, p. 34) Considering the favored smartphone, the iPhone has already burnt a big enough whole in our pockets without being faced with the cost and inconvenience of another device.
Despite customers call for handy little gadgets that sit comfortably (and don’t bend) in back pockets, the iPhone 6 models were a huge success selling over 1 million more products than the iPhone 5s in 2013 (Goodwin, 2014). Apple push the ‘Bigger than Bigger’ approach to the consumers boasting impressive 4.7 – 5.5 inch screens (Goodwin, 2014) but despite the inconvenience to sit down with the product in the pocket and the inability to use it one handed, there are some advantages – or disadvantages - of the bigger than bigger screen for the industry.
The larger model, which thousands of Apple-hungry publics have invested in, has the ability to act as an e-reading device without the unnecessary struggles of fiddly controls on small screens. And a mobile being a mobile is light, effortlessly transportable and you can pick up from where you left off all too easily (Goodwin, 2014). So why go to all the trouble of dusting off the old pages sat on the bookshelf or breaking the bank for another e-device, when you have a whole library in your back pocket?
The technology powerhouse may just have peeled the market back for eBooks with the abilities the iPhones hold when it comes to publishing. They have affected the industry in many ways possibly slaying the stand-alone e-reader. Apple may have bitten the core on the industry, but only the future can tell us of the next big move.
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Bibliography:
· Erye, C. 2014. Amazon Less Dominate in E-Book Market Outside UK, [online] http://www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-less-dominant-e-book-market-outside-uk, [Accessed: 11/10/2014]
· Dachis, A. 2012. The Best Ereader for iPhone, [online] http://lifehacker.com/5875061/the-best-ereader-for-iphone, [Accessed: 8/10/2014]
· Goodwin, R. 2014. Everything you need to know about the iPhone 6 and 6 PLUS, [online], http://www.knowyourmobile.com/apple/apple-iphone-6/19763/iphone-6-specs-price-features, [Accessed: 9/10/2014]
· Hall, F. 2013. The Business of Digital Publishing: An introduction to the digital book and journal industries. Oxford: Routledge
· Neil, G. 2009. Amazon Launces Kindle iPhone App, [online] http://www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-launches-kindle-iphone-app, [Accessed: 8/10/2014]
· Reid, A. 2014. iPhone 6 ‘Making the Big Screen the Norm’ for mobile publishing, [online], http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/apple-making-the-big-screen-the-norm-for-publishing-with-iphone-6/s2/a562492/, [Accessed: 8/10/2014]
· Wasserman, T. 2014 Why E-Readers are the Next iPods, [online] http://mashable.com/2014/06/27/e-readers-next-ipods/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link, [Accessed: 10/10/2014]