Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPad
iPad ad reveals book pricing and NYT button
The iPad television ad that appeared during Sunday night's Oscars ceremony showed off more than the iPad's functionality. It revealed some book pricing, too.Several of the books had prices clearly displayed (you'll get a better look here), ranging from US$8 to $15. For example, Sen. Edward Kennedy's "True Compass: A Memoir" is listed for $14.99, while "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is priced at $7.99.
By contrast, Appleinsider reports, those titles sell for $19.25 and $7.19 on the Kindle, respectively.
We reported on a leaked list of likely initial iBookstore titles and prices in late February, but this is the first official indication of pricing from Apple -- for the record, all the prices above match up with the file we saw. It's notable that the list appears to include New York Times bestsellers as a separate category, which aligns with the sharp-eyed observations of reader Alejandro; he noticed the distinctive Times logo in the iBooks app at the bottom of the screen (see image below) at the end of the ad.
Based on the leaked list, other titles we might expect to see at launch are "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks for $9.99, "U is for Undertow" by Sue Grafton for $12.99 and "The Wrecker" by Clive Cussler for $12.99.
The iBooks application represents Apple's first foray into the ebook market, currently dominated by the Kindle and Nook. The competition is heating up before the iPad even hits stores, as HarperCollins and Macmillan have forced Amazon to re-visit their pricing policies. In January of this year, before the iPad's introduction, Amazon adopted the 70/30 revenue split that the App Store uses. An epic battle is about to erupt which can only mean one thing: Better choices and products for us, the customers!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charli said 3:07PM on 3-08-2010
that NYT button isn't a shock. their bestsellers list is still consider THE list to get on.
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SubGenius said 4:31PM on 3-08-2010
How long before the "iPad Bestsellers" is the list to be on?
leniamonio said 8:39PM on 3-08-2010
For sure, Steve Jobs released one of the best Tablet as for this moment, but seeing its flaws -- surely, made the impression that it really didn't 'beat' its contenders (Kindle/Netbook devices) At least on this model. Maybe, if they will release a 2G model, these disadvantages will be eliminated, but then again that begs the question.. Why should we buy this half-baked tablet, if 2G will be better?
In the end, it'll be up to your preferences and budget if you're going to have the iPad. More Details: http://bit.ly/apple-ipad-under-fire
.nate said 3:08PM on 3-08-2010
Clincher for me will be magazine integration into the iBookstore. Then I will no longer need any physical media! I will buy an iPad for the couch, kitchen, hand-carry and, of course, the toilet. Doh! and the wife!
I reckon iPad will be a success even though its market isn't fully carved and formed to how Stevie P would like it. Apple's tactics of low, low cost will make this luxury item more of something we can find an excuse to need it for.
Ten years time iPads and Droidlets will be what we all read books on. Twenty years time kids will diss us for having books and preferring them to the colourful and interactive screens (that we bought them).
The end of paper books is nigh! Enjoy them while you can...
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basscadet said 3:56PM on 3-08-2010
not really. Until all those e-reader / video viewer / net surfer tablets come to a really really low price (under 100$) and become affordable for everyone, they will still be luxury items. And it seems it won't be Apple offering those cheap tablets but some Asian manufacturer slashing the costs to dizzying lows. Those tablets with their much upgraded future specs will have a chance of penetrating the market deep enough to become commonplace. As I see it now, many people buy into the ideal state of the iPad but the reality is far from that. I'd wait a few more years till all those betas (iPad included) grow up and show some potential.
SubGenius said 4:39PM on 3-08-2010
I think all these folk saying they are going to wait till version 2 or 3 of the iPad are crazy. The iPad was already introduced at a low price. This isn't going to be a repeat of the iPhone where there is going to be a big price drop any time soon.
I don't think Apple is going to add a webcam either.
A year from now when iPad 2.0 comes out my 1.0 Pad will still have the bulk of it's resale value and I will had the chance to use some of the best technology available for a year.
I'm guessing the depreciation is going to be approximately $10 per month.
Not worth waiting in my book!
iGlad said 6:43PM on 3-08-2010
It's nice to dream but trust me books are not going anywhere soon, why because despite not being interactive it has a tactile quality to it that humans love. I say a house without a book in it would be a strange place in deed and not a place i'd venture into.
the iPad will sell lots just like the iPhone but not everyone has one do they? It's not the end of the printed book however i do feel that far too many trees are wasted for some of the drivel thats issued in book form. I used to be a bookseller myself so i know.
Logan said 3:11PM on 3-08-2010
"An epic battle is about to erupt which can only mean one thing: Better choices and products for us, the customers!"
Like the higher prices that have already resulted from the "epic battle"?
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Just_a_guy said 3:29PM on 3-08-2010
I hope this means we get better prices on the nook/sony e reader/kindle, and then when they get better prices the ipad responds ect. I think this is good for the industry.
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punkassjim said 3:47PM on 3-08-2010
"In January of this year, before the iPad's introduction, Amazon adopted the 70/30 revenue split that the App Store uses."
You guys need to look a little further into that whole "same as Apple" thing. It's a much more complicated situation than that. It's nothing like Apple's deal.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/01/amazon-macmillan-an-outsiders.html
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ABCNEWSER.com said 5:14PM on 3-08-2010
Well I guess the ads have worked so far. Today everyone, all the "average" people, were jumping around with excitement about the iPad. It's hard to believe that such a large segment of the population hasn't seen either side of the whole iPad speculation/announcement (/TUAW editors' disappointment), especially after the incredible news coverage, leading many of the network news programs. People were saying things like "Dude! That thing is amazing! It's like a giant iPod that you read with!" Suddenly everyone became Apple 'experts'. Of course, as the only true Apple fanboy in the area, I had to correct everyone, with a "favorable twist". I'm guessing with the 50 million viewers for the OSCARS last night, this happened in many other places.
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Charli said 10:08AM on 3-09-2010
The thing is that folks around here are NOT the average consumer. Thus not the market for this device. So while TUAW, macrumors etc are all "it sucks cause it's not a computer, it won't play flash, it doesn't have this, it doesn't have that", non of those things matter to the actual market. they in fact aren't looking for a computer. they are looking for something to do email, surf the web sometimes, etc that doesn't require a full laptop. And is easy. and easy to buy things for without dealing with 15 different installer types.
so the Ipad, among others, is just what they are looking for.
so even when the geeks boo and hiss, this thing will sell. and big
mentalsticks said 8:02PM on 3-08-2010
>Better choices and products for us, the customers!
... is utter nonsense. The competition is not going on in the realm of the end-user. The competition is happening at the level of the suppliers. The publishers who own the rights want to make as much as possible out of their assets, and a peculiarity about the music, movie and book market is that there is no actual competition going on, in the sense that if I find Alice in Wonderland too expensive, I won't buy Animal Farm instead but I'll either buy Alice in Wonderland anyway or won't buy anything at all. This means that the pavlovian capitalist knee-jerk reaction of: more market parties == better products at better prices and more choice, isn't valid for these markets, no matter what the music, movie and book industry tries to tell us. The only competition true there is, is in the realm of the e-reader/mp3-player/media player (and also in the realm of the distributors, who like to be able to supply as large an assortment as possible to us end-users, for which, again, the rights owners can make them i.e. us pay through the nose) . The more these companies fight for the blessings of the rights owners, the more profit those rights owners will want and the more the end users will pay.
Till now, with the Kindle, Amazon had better deals for us customers than Apple is going to offer, and because of this Amazon has had to raise its prices as well so as not to lose its standing with the rights owners.
Therefore, I have no clue what makes you expect there are going to be better choices and products for us.
Also, the ebook market is a very new and unstable market as it is. I am not going to buy a single ebook till I have some kind of guarantee that a) I can still read them in ten, even five years; b) that I'm not locked in to a specific vendor and c) that I can read them on as many of my devices as is practically possible.
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Doug McIntosh said 12:13AM on 3-09-2010
Yeah, because Apple has been SOOOO greedy so far with the iTunes store, always fighting with the intrepid publishers for higher and higher prices on movies, music, videos and other media, while the publishers are always trying to push prices down, down down.
Riiiiight.
Before you whine about the Amazon thing, remember that Amazon was unfairly subsidizing e-books for the Kindle. This caused a clearly anticompetitive market, which Apple was wise to resist.
In contrast, Apple negotiated a good price on music on iTunes, but that price still allowed a small-but-sustainable profit margin for Apple. Far different than what Amazon did with its loss-leader e-book pricing.
But Apple simply has no track record of "gouging" for media.
mentalsticks said 3:41AM on 3-09-2010
It should really please Steve Jobs that you have come to his defense, but that's quite unnecessary here as they're not under attack in my post.
That said, there also this: although I have to agree that Apple hasn't been greedy in the Music Store, I could give you a long, long list on times when Apple *has* been greedy. And secondly, and actually relevant to this discussion: the budding digital music market was very different than the digital publishing market is now.