“It doesn’t really matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.”
The words of the stellar Steve Jobs at Mac World 2008.
But he got it wrong. People are just changing how they do it. Paper is dead.
On Monday Amazon rated the Kindle as their best selling electronic device of the year. It was also the most “wished for” item on the site for 2008.
When the Amazon Kindle came onto the market in November 2007 it sold out in a record 5.5 hours. Oprah recommended it on her show, gave out coupons and told the masses that it may be expensive but it would pay for itself because the downloads were so cheap. Predictably, it flew off the shelves.
Being able to download a whole library into something you can carry around in your bag is truly amazing. And it was the fist truly practical e-book reader with e-ink technology that made it readable even in sunlight. It has a good enough reading experience, it’s easy to browse and purchase content which goes some way in explaining its massive take up rates.
But on the other hand it’s a bit of a closed garden experience as it doesn’t support standard e-book formats like e-pub. It uses a lot of power on standby. If you don’t shut it down the battery runs out in a day or so – even though text displays aren’t supposed to use power when the pages aren’t being turned. An e-ink display manufacturer like PVI lasts a lot longer.
For backpackers and travelers downloading reading material for a long trip over a few weeks or months is absolutely brilliant. You don’t have to carry a library on your back but its benefit is also its downfall. For the frequent flyer or business customer, Kindle is just another bulky piece of technology you have to take with you, along with everything else.
The Sony Reader is the main competitor to the Kindle. It has a dedicated music player and a JPEG viewer; Amazon havn’t quite nailed either with the Kindle. It does have one thing that the Sony doesn’t though and that’s a speaker. Very good for audio books.
It’s the e-books themselves, more than anything, that are the real money spinner for the reader manufacturers and things look like they’ll get even better in the e-book market. A survey from Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimates that the sales of e-books by 2012 will be around $9.6 billion annually and by 2018 will bypass the sales of paper books.
The TextonPhone application launched last August. Since then uptake has been steady and today there are around 50,000 registered users. It gives the iPhone user access to over 20,000 books, magazines and journals. The application is also in the pipeline to be expanded to other smart phones too.
As I see it, smart phones are the next logical step in the Kindle/e-reader debacle about who’ll come out on top.
Smart phones are small, light and you already have them on you; a distinct bonus in the e-reader market. Publishers, Random House recently made some of their best sellers available through the iPhone and iPod touch. A month earlier, publishers Pan Macmillan and Simon & Schuster did the same through the free application Stanza.
Initially, for some customers it’s technically daunting but they’re not the typical smart phone user.
There is one thing, though. If you leave your e-reader on the bus or the tube, terrible I know but it does happen, some weird and wonderful things have been left on public transport, you loose a library of books. If the same unfortunate thing happens with your smart phone you loose your library, your music back catalogue and a whole bunch of contacts.
That’s the risk we take with being constantly on the go.
I’d still use the my iPhone every time.
