Books are one of the greatest creations of mankind and work as food for your brain. Whether they be fiction or nonfiction, books always hold meaning in them. They teach you about life and tell us how to live better. Nowadays books can be read physically as well as digitally.
The advancement of technology has also influenced the book industry. Now all the books in the world can be contained in a single device. E-books have a lot of advantages including minimizing paper waste, easily portable, accessible everywhere, sharing of text, etc. Two of the best platforms used for reading books are Wattpad and Pocketbook.
Wattpad vs Pocketbook
The main difference between Wattpad and Pocketbook is that Wattpad helps us read stories written by users, while Pocketbook helps us read books that are actually published in a conventional way after going through the process of editing and proofreading.
Comparison Table Between Wattpad and Pocketbook
| Parameters of Comparison | Wattpad | Pocketbook |
| Type of Organisation | Wattpad is a website that connects writers (amateur and professional) to readers. It publishes new stories written by the users. | Pocketbook is a company that manufactures e-book readers based on E-Ink technology. |
| Founded In | Wattpad was founded in the year of 2006. It is a company based in Toronto, Canada. | Pocketbook was founded in the year 2007 and its headquarters are located in Lugano, Switzerland. |
| Industry | Wattpad comes under the social media and technology industry. | Pocketbook comes under the wing of the electronics industry. |
| Number of Employees | Wattpad has 145 employees. | Pocketbook has 230 employees. |
| Further Ventures | Wattpad has also expanded to Wattpad Studios that produce movies and series based on Wattpad stories. | Pocketbook has not expanded into any further ventures than manufacturing e-readers. |
What is Wattpad?
Wattpad is a website that allows a user to write and read stories of other writers. It is used by amateurs as well as professionals. The app aims to create social communities among people who love reading and writing. Wattpad is also a site for a lot of fanfiction.
Wattpad’s motto is “Where Stories Live” which is an apt representation of what the site is really about. It provides billions of selections to choose from and thousands of stories are added everyday. There are 90 million users of the app currently.
The app used to be free of cost to use earlier but now the app has added the feature of Wattpad Coins that can be used to access paid stories. Some stories, however, still remain free of cost. They can be accessed on the Wattpad site or the social media app. The stories can also be downloaded offline for uninterrupted reading.
Wattpad statistics show that their 90 million users spend almost 15 billion minutes each month using the application. In 2011, Wattpad was awarded the hottest Digital Media company in the country of Canada. In 2017, Wattpad introduced another app that allows their users to make a chat story called ‘Tap’.
What is Pocketbook?
Pocketbook is an e-reader manufacturing company that is spread across various countries. It is the third largest producer of premium e-readers in the world. The company produces various variants with different features.
The e-readers are sold in 35 countries around the world. Some of them being in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and many more. The company also makes tablets. They have sold more than 2 million products.
The e-readers made by Pocketbook support all formats of books like .pdf, .epub, .mobi, etc. Your library can be synchronised across various devices and you can download all your books. The e-reader also allows you to highlight text and add comments to it. It is very user-friendly and allows you to add books from various platforms like Google Books, iBooks, etc.
The Pocketbook app supports mp3 and mp4 formats of books. This allows you to listen to audiobooks at any time you want. You can also use the text-to-speech function to read your books. You can also read e-books in foreign languages due to the integrated dictionaries.
Main Differences Between Wattpad and Pocketbook
- Wattpad is an online reading and writing platform. It provides user-created stories for people to read. Pocketbook, on the other hand, makes e-readers.
- Wattpad is an online website and an application but Pocketbook is a company.
- Wattpad was started in 2006 while Pocketbook was started one year later, in 2007.
- Wattpad has its headquarters located in Canada but Pocketbook is a Swiss-based company.
- Wattpad employs fewer people than Pocketbook at just 145 workers, as opposed to Pocketbook’s 230.
- Wattpad also makes movies and series but Pocketbook only makes e-readers with regular updations.
Conclusion
Books are a great way to increase knowledge. They help in the mental development of a human being. The effects that books have on people can be seen in how they interact with other people and in their conversations. The digital publication of books has been made very easy and it is a great way to access them from all around the world.
Wattpad and Pocketbook are two such apps that help you read each and every book you come across. They have an easy interface to use. The only advantage Pocketbook has over Wattpad is that it allows one to read published books, which are usually of higher quality. Wattpad books may not have always gone through the process of editing and proofreading before being published.
Wattpad allows the users to interact with each other over stories too. They have a section for commenting, liking and private messaging too. This makes Wattpad perform more like a social media app than a reading app. Keeping all advantages and disadvantages in mind, one comes to the conclusion that you download one of these apps according to your needs.
References
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhammad_Nurtanto/publication/330713069_Mobile_pocketbook_of_the_4Cs_skills-oriented_inform_of_Quick_Response_Code/links/5c56723692851c22a3a4baf4/Mobile-pocketbook-of-the-4Cs-skills-oriented-inform-of-Quick-Response-Code.pdf
- http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJELS/article/view/4439
- http://ejournal.karinosseff.org/index.php/jadila/article/view/59