iBooks the winner as iPad gains positive feedback

06.04.10 | Catherine Neilan in The Bookseller

The iPad has received widely positive reviews since its launch on 3rd April, with e-reading being singled out as one of the best aspects of the device.
However, a number of newspapers and blogs are now reporting that several users have experienced technical problems.

At the Financial Times, the reviewer gave the device "a solid four out of seven", applauding the user experience - particularly for reading.

"As an eReader, it has the most elegant page-turning of any device as the page follows the finger in curling gracefully over to the next leaf," Chris Nuttall said. "However, its iBooks store is well behind the Amazon Kindle in content available."

The review given at Times Online said: "The one application that you should download straight away is the iBook app," - although it points out that the UK Apple website "does not yet have the same guide to what the iBook store contains as the US website".

He added: "A lot of people will be buying the iPad to read books on it. The download experience (and payment) could not be simpler and the processing behind the simple swipe to turn the page is impressive. Prices are generally higher than Amazon's rock bottom $9.99 (£6.60) but not too high to put keen readers off... Amazon should be seriously worried right about now for their hardware Kindle business."
The full report at The Bookseller.