Comments on: Are the Kindle, iPhone the future of comics?

By: rj smith

rj smith — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:14:06 +0000

I’m really looking into this. Is anyone doing a daily comic, designed, or at least reformatted, for the Kindle? I have been setting my strip up for it and it’s coming out way better than I expected.

By: Lippy Lippy

Lippy Lippy — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:27:54 +0000

Hi Guys..
Very interesting discussion. Do any of you Kindle owners know how to choose EXACTLY which 16 shades of gray are used on the Kindle’s screen? I’m trying to make graphics in just those 16 colors with no dithering..
Thanks.
-Lippy

By: Anne Hambrock

Anne Hambrock — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:41:18 +0000

“If the Kindle came pre-loaded”

Tom,

Yes, that’s exactly the sort of thing I am talking about – either an account established through the web at large – like itunes is – or through the kindle itself. There would need to be no independent transaction fees – simply continued access to a running account.

I don’t know of any transaction fees for itunes, I just keep the account loaded and use it at my leisure.

By: Tom Wood

Tom Wood — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:51:51 +0000

The problem with straight up micro payments is that the credit card transaction costs are still too high. Plus, the cost to deal with contesting a $0.25 charge just isn’t worth it. But if there were an intermediary ‘credit’ system, that could work.

If the Kindle came pre-loaded (as part of the purchase price) with $20 (or so) worth of ‘credits’ that could be used to view content, then it *might* work to pay for content. Once that’s used up, refill from your credit card in $20 increments.

By: r stevens

r stevens — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:28:39 +0000

“Pirated books are readily available.”

So are free newspapers picked up after the first reader finishes them at the coffee shop. A significant number still pays when a payment system is part of the culture of the platform.

By: Anne Hambrock

Anne Hambrock — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:09:56 +0000

If something like an “icash” micro-payment system can be implemented, so that whenever you find any content you wish to download it is a one to two click process, and the price is only a penny or two per comic why would people bother to steal it?

I have an ipass for my car for using the toll road. It is automatically scanned every time I drive past the reader and I get an email notice to reload the account with my credit card whenever the balance of $ is running low.

It’s quick and convenient. (no more horrendous lines at the toll booth waiting for people who seem to have no idea they will have to find their $ before they actually GET to the booth)

This would be a very easy model to follow for all digital media.

By: Eric Millikin

Eric Millikin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:42:26 +0000

Of course smaller digital devices will be a bigger part of our future. But I always find the “future” framing of these things to be kind of goofy. The iPhone is a train that left the Apple station about two years ago and they’ve sold about 20 million tickets. This is the present, not the future.

By: Mark Tatulli

Mark Tatulli — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:02:45 +0000

A friend of mine has a Kindle-like device (same thing, different manufacturer) and has downloaded 367 books to this thing. He also has not paid for a single one. Pirated books are readily available.

By: Mike Peterson

Mike Peterson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:52:49 +0000

Keep in mind that, in order for this to work, people would have to want to read your cartoon. A well-established cartoon (whether it’s Peanuts or PVP) could make the leap from free to paid, but someone starting out would have to begin by building up a large audience and then breaking some bad news to them all. (Bearing in mind, too, that people don’t perceive the comics in their newspaper as something they’ve chosen to pay for. There’s a small leap just in getting them to do that.)

By: r stevens

r stevens — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:22:02 +0000

They’re proprietary devices. The pay model’s availability is part of it!