OK, so we all know the iPad is coming sometime in the next few weeks (or if you believe recent analyst reports, perhaps early April). Regardless, the publishing industry is bracing itself for the new “digital ink” onslaught that the Kindle introduced, and the iPad is sure to expand.

Not only are major book publishers (Harper Collins, Penguin, et al) readying their inventory for the Apple iPad, but magazine publishers are also now scrambling to lead the charge, with Conde Nast boldly staking an early production claim to a multi-title iPad magazine release in time for the product launch later this month.

But will the iPad really save the publishing industry? And more importantly, are companies really clear on the baffling new lexicon of digital print – the iBooks, E-Ink, ePub, and eReader App world they are now forced to come to grips with? Where should publishers focus their efforts – An iBooks App? A customised iPad Native App? A Kindle App? Or even an ePub or proprietary Kindle/Nook format release?

And perhaps most importantly – which content format is appropriate for each new platform?

To help make sense of the eReading hoopla – let’s start with a few definitions, a few scorecards, and a very quick round-up on some of the jargon:

The iPad iBooks App

Most people who saw Steve Jobs’ rather snoozy Keynote intro for the iPad in January saw a quick demo of the new iBooks App – aka the iTunes of Books for the iPad. Not only is it a near perfect carbon copy of the current iPhone ‘Classics’ App (download it and see what I mean), but beyond the swanky new page-turning animation, it is basically a text-focused eReader App ideally suited to shorter text-only books – thanks in part to the less than ideal backlit LCD screen (more on that later).

Think short novels, poetry books, pamphlets, plays, travel guides, etc. However, reading Proust or Dostoyevsky on this thing may be hazardous to your eyes, head, and certainly your iPad battery life. Moreover, images (beyond merry Elizabethan wood-carved portraiture) on iBooks may be stretch – so not ideal for the magazine industry.

iBooks App Scorecard

Value for Short-Form Publications: B+
Value for Long-Form Traditional Books: C
Value for Image-Rich Newspapers/Magazines: D

iPad Customised eReader Apps

Unfortunately most people – at this point at least – believe the iBooks App to be the ‘catch-all’ for digital publishing on the new iPad. It isn’t. If anything, it is a rather rushed attempt to get short and long form text sources (i.e. traditional eBooks in ePub format) into the iPad while Apple figures out the best means of monetising (read: taking over) the digital publshing industry. While it is indeed a worthy start, iBooks isn’t for every format – and for magazine and newspaper publishers in particular, iBooks simply won’t cut the mustard.

There was a reason The New York Times demonstrated their new iPad App on launch day – the native app space is still the only place in the Apple multi-touch world where publishers can control, integrate, and electrify their digital content for consumption on eReader devices.

While iBooks offers an excellent iTunes-like store and dissemination model and is better suited to ‘traditional’ eBook reading, newspaper and magazine publishers translating their content to the mobile space need immersive image and video rich ‘mashups’ that can only be achieved in an app. If you’ve ever seen a newspaper on the Amazon Kindle, you’ll understand what I mean.

The “mixed-media” space of Periodical Apps are best suited to the iPad over any other device – what with the LCD screen, video capabilities and processor speed designed specifically for integrated media in the first place. And so to the scorecard….

iPad Customised App Scorecard

Value for Short-Form Publications: C
Value for Long-Form Traditional Books: D
Value for Image-Rich Newspapers/Magazines: A

E-Ink Readers, The Kindle & Kindle Apps

And finally, the incumbents - the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Digital Book Readers, and the ever-growing raft of new E-Ink powered eReaders flooding the market. In comparison to the LCD Backlit (flashlight in your face) reading experience of the Apple iPad and iPhone, ask anyone which screen they would prefer for extended digital reading (i.e. anything more than 30/40 minutes) and they’ll choose the 16-shades of grey E-Ink format every time.

This won’t bother Apple and Steve “people don’t ready anymore” Jobs in the least. The iPad has been designed for mixed-media and ‘playlist reading’ – and the specs support this – with its pedestrian battery life, fatigue-inducing LCD screen, and another 140,000 apps competing for a reader’s attention. The iPad will no doubt do a lot of things extremely well – but an enjoyable long-session reading experience is simply not its bag.

And that’s where the E-Ink crew have a distinct advantage (for however long it lasts). Electronic Ink (E-Ink) is a low power alternative to LCD screens that generates a near-identical experience to reading on physical paper. In fact, you need as much light to read an E-Ink display as you would a normal book. With adjustable text and layout sizes, the ability to read in sunlight, a battery life of around 2 weeks between charges, and access to over 500,000 books via Amazon’s cross-synched Whispernet service – devices like the Kindle and Nook are built for the serious book reader. And perhaps that’s where it ultimately falls short.

With Amazon having announced the Kindle SDK (allowing Developers to begin building Kindle ‘Apps’ – fancy that) and rumours of a colour E-Ink Kindle just around the corner, the focused “bookworm-device” is set to go head-to-head with the iPad.

Until then, the market-leading E-Ink devices should continue to do what they do best (long form reading), forget about what they could do badly (apps), and leave the integrated media experiences to the LCD screens (iPad). Handing things back to the judges…

E-Ink Reader Scorecard

Value for Short-Form Publications: B
Value for Long-Form Traditional Books: A
Value for Image-Rich Newspapers/Magazines: F

Digested Blog Post

The iPad’s iBooks App = Decent for Books/Bad for Periodicals
iPad Customised eReader Apps = Perfect for Periodicals/Bad for Books
Amazon Kindle/E-Ink Readers = Ideal for Books/Bad at Everything Else