The iPad v Kindle battle shaking up global media and publishing is about to send some waves to South Africa’s shores. Experts say 2010 will be the year the e-book reader comes of age and at the moment there are only two main players in the ring: Apple’s iPad tablet computing device with web, multimedia, gaming and e-book functionality and the less functional but more established e-book reader from Amazon, the Kindle.

The battle between these two global giants is redefining the rules of publishing and content distribution and the big players in South Africa are watching the fray with an eye for opportunity. Already there are unconfirmed rumours that one major South African media house is talking to Amazon’s Kindle division and speculation that another is toying with developing its own e-reader device.

What the key players will say, however, is that they are interested in the market that is emerging on the back of this technology. And well they should be. Mobile phones have yet to come of age as a viable platform for media and publishing houses – even in South Africa where cellphone technology is pretty much ubiquitous at every level of the population.

The Amazon/Apple battle is fascinating not only because it involves two celebrity companies but because a new business model is emerging that could be a fundamental game-changer for publishers and creators of content. The new rules of the game for media houses could lead to dramatically higher margins as distribution and production costs plummet with content pushed through the ether on to mobile devices such as the Kindle and the iPad.

But with this revolution comes new gatekeepers demanding a charge for these mobile eyeballs. Amazon was taking 70% of revenue of book sales done through the Kindle until Apple came along with the iPad. After a recent face-off with book publisher MacMillan, Amazon has decreased its slice of the pie to 30% on MacMillan’s book sales.

But should South Africa’s print media be jumping on to the bandwagon when the take-up in this country will be quite slow? On the one hand these devices are reasonably pricey and there’s not just a wealth barrier. Many older people may not be keen to learn new tricks.

Clearly, this is the way of the future. In 20 years, e-readers could well be as ubiquitous as cellphones are today. The technology will improve and prices will come down.

New-media experts Matthew Buckland, who heads up the 20FourLabs innovation unit at 24.com, and Elan Lohmann, general manager of Avusa Media Online, say that newspapers should be on as many digital platforms as possible but at the moment it may not be worth South African publishers putting time and money into optimising content for the Kindle or iPad… TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY WEEKLY MEDIA COLUMN ON MONEYWEB.

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