Reader Poll: Are E-Readers Our Future?
Proponents of the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle certainly exist in this industry, and predictions of future versions with anticipated technological enhancements add fuel to the fire. Some publishing companies also have already made good use of the devices in-house, giving them to salespeople to replace paper galleys that are not only cumbersome to transport, but use lots of paper.
However, contrarians have raised the question: How can a single-function device, priced almost the same as multifunction devices, such as laptops and smart phones [UC?], succeed? Why would people pay $300 or $400 for a device that serves the sole purpose of book reading, when they can spend around $500 today for a PC that does far more than that?
E-paper certainly comes into question here, though, making book reading easier on the eyes, with its light-reflective, paperlike characteristics, compared to traditional computer screens.
What Do You Think?
Is this the format of the future? Do you think single-function e-reading devices, such as the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, will succeed over the long-term?
Go to the Reader Poll now on BookBusinessMag.com and vote. When you vote, you’ll also be able to see the real-time results, and we’ll publish the final results in the next issue of Book Business.
SPECIAL REPORT: The Transforming Booksellers’ Landscape
The biggest news in book retailing so far this year may be Borders’ opening its first “concept store,” a new generation of superstores unveiled in February in the company’s hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. At 28,900 square feet, the new store—the first of 14 planned to open this year—does not skimp on size, and a lot of that space is taken up by innovative features: shop-within-a-shop “destination zones” for travel, cooking, wellness, graphic novels and children’s categories; bold, new architectural designs; and a “digital center” offering services ranging from book downloading to self-publishing.