Blurb Launches $1.99 iPad eBook Publishing Service
Online book publishing service Blurb today launched a new way to publish collections of photos - as an eBook for the iPad. The new eBooks come in templated or custom two-page layouts, which readers can swipe through, search the text of and zoom into full resolution images.
Context & Ripple Effects
Blurb built its name on printed photo books, and this move carries that same product onto the tablet Apple opened up when it launched the iBooks Store and app in early 2010. Self-publishing to the iPad had already been demonstrated as nearly free via Apple's low-cost self-published e-book path, so Blurb's $1.99 price point is less about access and more about packaging: templated or custom two-page layouts with swiping, text search, and full-resolution zoom are print-photo-book conventions translated to a screen.
The timing leans on Apple's device dominance — data from days before the launch put the iPad at 97% of tablet web traffic and ahead of the iPhone — which makes an iPad-only eBook format a rational first target rather than a gamble.
First-order effects
- Hobbyist photographers and existing Blurb customers gain a $1.99 path to publish photo collections as interactive iPad eBooks, extending Blurb's catalog beyond physical prints into Apple's iBooks channel.
Second-order effects
- Rival photo-book and self-publishing services face pressure to match an iPad-native, sub-$2-dollar offering or cede the digital side of the photo-book market to Blurb and Apple's storefront.
Third-order effects
- If photo collections migrate from printed albums to tablet-native eBooks, the photo-book business reorganizes around whichever platform controls the reader — in 2011, that means Apple's iBooks ecosystem sets the format and pricing terms.
The trend: Photo publishing is shifting from print-first to tablet-first formats, with Apple's dominant iPad installed base dictating where self-publishing services like Blurb take their products next.