iPad: Good for Comics, Bad for Retailers

By Stephen Tramontana on January 27th, 2010

• Tweet
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 1 Comment

So here we are, the day Apple forces us to, yet again, live in the future with the first electronic device developed for people “who read good.”

By now, you’ve probably soaked up every bit of information on this game changer if you wanted to. But the questions linger on which games it will change, and if it will be a good thing or a bad thing. One winner? College students. If you’ve been to college, you’ve inevitably had the experience of suffering a minor heart attack over an Econ book that cost $150.00. Well not anymore.

Terry McGraw, of McGraw-Hill fame, stated the following this morning in anticipation of the announcement:

“So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”

So students, get ready for an awesome discount, as long as you can afford the $499-$800 for the iPad in the first place.

Now let’s look at the loser on this thing: Comic Book Retailers.

Unlike their corporate book store counterparts, comic book retailers are largely small businesses that depend on a faithful group of customers returning each Wednesday to pick up new books. Comic book publishers, specifically Marvel, have made it hard on them in recent years by raising cover prices to $3.99, sometimes $4.99 for a single issue. For the average customer with a budget, it’s hard to justify spending $20.00-$50.00 a week on comic books, especially as the page counts have not increased and no extra value has been created.

More and more, comic book collectors are looking to other sources to get their comic fix in a way that works with their budget, and online issues are gaining in popularity. For instance, Comixology has an iPhone app where readers can download a new issue for as little as 99 cents. Seeing as how the iPad works with the iPhone OS, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall.

Many will dismiss this, stating how fans have been slow to take to the digital issue strategy, and their preference for actually holding books. I called a comic book retailer in Los Angeles to get a flash reaction, and they didn’t seem nervous at all.

“Look, every couple of years we’re told our business is going to be outdated. I’ve been hearing that for over 30 years. Comics are unique in that people like the experience of holding the book. Motion comics were supposed to be the beginning of the end, digital comics were supposed to be the beginning of the end, but none of that has really hit my business. Tablets will probably end up complimenting our business, not threatening it.”

And this is true, but think about the long run. After all, many said the same thing on the eve of the iPod launch, stating that consumers still liked the experience of going to a CD store and looking through the merchandise. Three years later, Tower Records and Virgin Megastore filed for bankruptcy. I hope the comic retailers will be fine, because I love my comic book store, and the experience of my weekly trip is one I enjoy.

Only time will tell if this new wonder tablet will sink the retailer. Publishers themselves should be ecstatic, as this now opens up a whole new revenue stream and they could possibly pull in new customers who have a passing interest in comics with lower prices and easier access.

Now if only more of them would embrace it (I’m looking at you DC).