Despite what Apple and even my fellow Cultists of Mac tell me, for me, the iPad isn’t a compelling gaming or productivity platform (at least primarily) and it’s not a viable laptop or even netbook replacement. For me, the iPad is a thing, attractive lozenge of aluminum and glass that will usually sit on my living room table on top of the pile of magazines and newspapers that are usually placed there. Despite Steve Jobs’ assertion that people don’t read anymore, the iPad is an e-reader, first and foremost…. and it’s going to be the best e-reader ever released.
It does not appear that I’m alone in this opinion. comScore recently polled 2,176 iPad customers and discovered that over one-third of them said that they mainly thought they’d use the device as an e-reader.
To be more specific, 37% of comScore’s respondents said they were likely to read e-books on the iPad, while 34% thought they would be using it to read digital versions of newspapers and magazines.
Impressively, amongst iPad customers who have previously purchased Apple products, a full 52% of respondents said they’d pay for newspaper and magazine digital subscriptions… which implies that Apple fans are more indoctrinated in the mindset of paying for good content specifically adapted to their platform of choice than PC owners. Could Apple fans save publishing?
None of this is to say, of course, that iPad owners are going to just use their iPad as an e-reader. Regardless of their intentions for the device now, the App Store will always offer a compelling temptation to page out of iBooks to play a quick game of, say, Uniwar or watch a movie.
What about you? How do you see yourself mostly using your iPad?
