Since MyPublisher use the same interface as Apple they are really only able to differentiate themselves on two grounds: print quality and delivery times. How did they do?
Well, the dispatch notification came on the 29th June which is quick but not as fast as Apple. Unfortunately the book arrived on 8th July, which was five days behind Apple and a full week behind PhotoBox.
But what is the book like now that it has arrived?
It’s nice. In fact, if you go read my comments on the Apple book you’ll have a very good idea of what MyPublisher have done. The presentation is very similar, and, in terms of quality, it’s not easy to tell them apart. The main differences are that the MyPublisher has a vellum-like page before the photo pages, while Apple has a patterned sheet of paper. It’s a nice touch. And secondly the branding is slightly less obvious. No logo, just a bar code on the penultimate page and the website URL on the last page, no “Made on a Mac” text or logo.
So, given that the quality is broadly comparable and the delivery is slower, what reason is there to use MyPublisher rather than Apple? I’m still wondering. There’s nothing really wrong with the final product but currently they appear not to have any compelling advantage over Apple.
See:
“Since MyPublisher use the same interface as Apple”….
that’s not all they have in common!
Apple’s books are actually printed by MyPublisher.
so if the paper quality is the same, there shouldn’t be any difference in print quality for any given image file.
which leaves me to wonder just how does MyPublisher intend to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive market. hmmmm…
also, take a glance at blurb.com – might be worth 5 mins
I ordered books through Apple, having purchased the iLife software just for this purpose. I spent ages readying the images, printed them out as tests (not definitive as a guide, but a good indicator) and checked my own .pdf for colour, since I figure this is what the software is doing when it creates the book and sends it off. Despite all these precautions, what I got back was so abysmal I could hardly believe it was from Apple. The images were a completely different colour to the originals and totally faded out. The only positive thing was that I was refunded both the purchase price of the books and postage immediately. Of note is that these books were sent from Bratislava, suggesting quality has become a victim of outsourcing.