Kindle vs Apple iPad

January 25th, 2010

Many have chimed in, ahead of the Apple tablet announcement, on whether the new Apple device will be a “Kindle killer”

I don’t believe this will be the case. It’s not so much about the pros and cons of e-ink, backlights, or screen resolution.

To me, the Kindle DX is a brilliant device because it forces me to read a f’ing book.

No dock icons blinking. No compulsive checking of Twitter, email, or stock quotes (or Texts from Last Night).

By offering a limited set of functionality and doing less, better, the Kindle forces me to eschew the kind of distractions that make me curl up with a book in the first place.

Apple can create the be-all, end-all Surface or Canvas or Slate or whatever. I will buy it. I will buy the shit out of it. I’m a developer and UX geek (and yuppie hipster scum) – I have to.

I won’t use it to read novels, poetry, or prose. Magazines and news? Sure. Tech books? Maybe, if live docs and errata were part of the mix. But then, that type of reading is work, not pleasure. Not therapy. That’s where the Kindle shines.

I have looked at (an early version of) the Kindle development kit (the KDK) and though I’m tempted to create apps focused on distraction (Twitter client, anyone?) I don’t think I’d run them. Instead, I’m trying to dream up apps that boost the escapism the Kindle already affords me.

So far, nothing beats the core function: making me crave reading as much as my first library card did.