Penquin iPad Books In One Word: iWow!

One of the world's biggest and best publishers, Penguin Books, has decided to jump on board the iPad and in a big and very exciting way, as you can see in the above iPad demo.

According to the fine folks over at Gizmodo, Penquin's vision for iPad digital books offer an incredible vision for something that doesn't look anything like the books that we see today. That's because they are completely interactive, offering both sound, video and the reader with the opportunity to move things around simply by touch to reveal objects in stunning 3D, and complete with a reality intergalactic GPS system. As the Giz says, "This is the future we've been waiting to see."

Well, I know one thing, that when I was growing up this demo would be so wild and so utterly awesome that in my generation we couldn't, in a million years, ever even conceived of such things, but here we are folks, on the very cusp of the iPad and a new and exciting form of reading that would have totally floored and left good old Gutenberg, after creating that wonderful invention of his, the printing press, gasping for his breath in total and utter disbelief!

Penquine's demo is very exciting, but it's nothing more than a mere glimpse of what's coming, and no more than just a tease. E-readers, such as the upcoming iPad, are going to be the wave of the future. I especially love the idea that I can have all of my magazine and newspapers subscriptions made accessible, in one convenient location, on the iPad. For one thing, it means never having to wait for the mail or the paper boy to show up, which by the time you get it, is already out of date and often ripped, torn or soiled by the elements! Not only that, but another nice thing about the iPad, just as the Mac does today, it can easily be made to audibly read back your newspaper or magazine! This is a great convenience and allows you to do other things, while your iPad reads your selected newspaper items, etc.

In fact, of all the cool things about the iPad, I think the e-reader part is, well.... the very best part of all! I just love how the iPad's iBook Store looks and works. It means no more trudging off to the newsstand or bookstore, or waiting in line because the iPad would make all of its selections instantly available from the comfort of your own sofa or easy chair. Not only that, but just as the iTune store now allows you to sample music before you decide to buy them, so will the iPad'siBook Store do likewise!

Another cool feature of having an electronic version of a newspaper, instead of the traditional print media, such as the venerable New York Times, would be that instead of just seeing a still photo of the president receiving press questions, for example, would also be that you could actually get to see and hear him in action, answering those very questions in person! Why, as far as I'm concerned it would be the next best thing to actually being there!

Despite of all of the iPad's distracters out there that tell us that the iPad is going to big a flop in the market place, I firmly believe it will be the complete opposite - that it is going to be a runaway hit, and I also believe that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, factor in that success will because of the the iPad's e-reader component!

So, in conclusion, after seeing demos from Sport Illustrated, Wired, the New York Times and now after seeing some demo Penquin iPad books, all I will say is: "iWow", the future looks bright!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, March 04, 2010