What Apple Could Teach Amazon About Design

About two months ago, a friend gave me an Amazon Kindle e-book reader. I was very excited about the device. We actually did a trade. He got my Sony e-book reader, which had nicer design and features but required Windows (no Mac support). Earlier, I had asked Amazon for a review unit, but none were available. Good thing, too. My review wouldn't have been glowing.

From a feature and convenience perspective, the Kindle breaks through many of the barriers holding back e-books:

• Pricing
• Availability
• DRM

Amazon e-book pricing is excellent. The days when digital content cost the same as the physical counterpart is gone. Finally. Amazon—and Sony, too—discounts digital versions, plus some short stories are individually available and reasonably priced. I caught up on sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick's short stories, individually purchased, at both e-book stores.

GOT A TIP OR RUMOR?

Availability is two-ways better. Amazon offers an excellent selection of e-books, and they are available pretty much anytime or anywhere because of Kindle's built-in Sprint cellular data service.

Rights management is always going to be a problem, as long as people can't easily share their digital downloads the way they might with printed books. Amazon has made the DRM mostly invisible, which makes it palatable.

Design Shouldn't Be Industrial
My problem: Kindle is ugly. Butt ugly. It's even uglier because of expectations set by the box, which is wonderfully designed, visually and ergonomically. Maybe Amazon's Kindle box designer should have a say in future product design. The packaging raised my hopes high, but the contents laid them low.

For a $399 e-book reader—or so it cost when mine was purchased—Kindle feels awfully cheap in the hand. The plastic feels cheap, as do the navigation buttons and absolutely odd (what I'll call) selection strip. By comparison, Sony's e-book reader felt rugged (it's metal) and used somewhat familiar ergonomic concepts.

I disliked Kindle's appearance and apparent plastic cheapness almost immediately—and the attitude didn't improve after nearly two months of usage. But I continued using Kindle for the convenience. I definitely read more. Then came July 11 and iPhone's launch. Within days, I lost all interest in Kindle.

For me, iPhone 3G offers many of Kindle's advantage—always-on wireless delivery of content and easy reading—plus better ergonomics, sturdier hardware, better readability (with color!) and broader content access for less money (Amazon charges for newspapers, magazines and, gasp, blogs). Kindle is an extra device to carry; the cellphone is carried pretty much all the time.

Appearance does matter. The iPhone is a device that I want to take out, look at, show off and be seen using. By contrast, I felt embarrassed taking out Kindle. Recently, I saw an elderly woman reading from a Kindle at the San Diego airport. I felt embarrassed for her. Seeing someone else holding Kindle made for stronger sentiments about its ugliness. Someone might argue Kindle's beauty is within. Fine. Let them pay $350 for the inner beauty.

My Kindle is gone. A friend planned to buy the e-book reader, and he had a Canon Macro lens that I wanted. So we swapped gear, but not without my expressing my feelings about Kindle. He's one of those function-over-form geek types; he didn't care about the ugliness, although he griped about the cheap plastic feel.

Where' the iTunes e-Book Store?
There is no formal e-book store for iPhone 3G, but there is a good selection of classics available from third parties in the App Store. Fictionwise offers eReader through the App Store and books can be purchase through its online e-book service. This afternoon, I signed up for an account and purchased "Do Androids Dream of Sleep?" by Philip K. Dick.

Amazon Kindle has the better buying experience, as e-books can be directly purchased from the device and the DRM is invisible. By comparison, eReader lets you download purchased books but not buy from iPhone. Fictionwise puts the DRM right in your face. Books are unlocked by inputting name on the credit card and the credit card number. Those are both usability turnoffs.

Last month, Joe Wilkert asked the right question: "Why should I spend another $350 on a Kindle when I get a reading experience that's 'good enough' with eReader on my iPhone?" Joe is John Wiley & Sons' Professional/Trade division executive publisher. He reached a different conclusion than me, however: "Given the choice between a Kindle and an iPhone 3G I'd still go for the Kindle." Yeah, yeah, but he asked the right question. We just have different answers.

For e-book selection and convenience, Kindle easily beats iPhone 3G. But I found reading to be easier on Apple's mobile, which also is always carried; Kindle is an extra tote. The iPhone is a developer platform, unlike Kindle, which opens the possibility for mixed digital content, such as text with audio, video and motion graphics. Then there are the cross-selling possibilities for Apple or its third-party developers.

The Philip K. Dick novel would be more interesting with video clips from film version "Blade Runner," audio commentary from the author, etc. A link from the clip could allow the reader to buy or rent the movie from the iTunes Music Store or other service. Amazon should be even more inclined to such an approach, because of the retail sales possibilities. It won't happen with the original Kindle, and there's no indication that Amazon is looking to turn Kindle 2.0 into a digital content platform. Too bad for Amazon—Apple has got a content platform already.

Something else: e-books that incorporate multiple digital content types could be iPhone 3G's and the App Store's killer apps for markets like education and health care. Education is a favored Apple market.

But Apple doesn't have an e-book store, nor does it have a supporting digital content strategy. If Apple isn't considering the e-book as a business opportunity, somebody's not thinking right in Cupertino. Audiobooks and music are fine for iPod, but iPhone is a handheld computer with huge informational promise.

The e-books would need to be available as easily and conveniently as are audiobooks, music and movies—and with similarly transparent DRM—from the iTunes Music Store. People should be able to buy the e-books from iPhone, same as other content from iTunes Music Store.

Kindle gets a D from me, for cheap feel of the hardware and the product's butt ugliness. The Kindle store and its integration with the device earns a B+. The iPhone 3G gets an A for hardware design and ergonomics and a B- as an e-book device; the latter grade would be higher with the right kind of digital content store.

Apple has got the right hardware and software platform, but does it have the corporate vision and willpower to become either an e-book distributor or facilitator? I'm not convinced. How about you? Can Apple do it? Should it? Please answer in comments or by e-mail.

[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].

Posted by Joe Wilcox on August 25, 2008 2:34 PM