Market research firm DisplaySearch is predicting sales of e-paper displays, the predominant display technology used by e-reader devices, will grow to $9.6 by 2018. Sales for 2009 are expected to reach $431M, a near-quadrupling of 2008 sales ($129M).
While this year’s growth is to be expected given the number of new devices that have come on the market, I’m not sure the long-term growth is warranted (at least not without seeing the report data). We haven’t yet really seen if users are going to accept these devices in the long-term, or if they’ll be supplanted by alternatives. What happens if people get tired of a zillion different devices and decide an iPhone is “good enough” for their portable reading requirements? Or “heads-up” virtual displays become the norm?
Ten years is a long time, and a lot can happen. To put it in perspective, ten years ago most people didn’t have cell phones or broadband in their home. Although the rapid adoption of these technologies might speak in favor of e-readers becoming the norm, there’s just as much a chance that the trend of accelerating technological change may render e-readers obsolete before they reach mass adoption.
[via CNET)
Google has taken the wraps off of the latest offering from its Google Books’ project: a million public domain book, available for free in ePub format. As Brandon Badger reveals in his announcement blog post:
I’m excited to announce that starting today, Google Books will offer free downloads of these and more than one million more public domain books in an additional format, EPUB. By adding support for EPUB downloads, we’re hoping to make these books more accessible by helping people around the world to find and read them in more places. More people are turning to new reading devices to access digital books, and many such phones, netbooks, and e-ink readers have smaller screens that don’t readily render image-based PDF versions of the books we’ve scanned. EPUB is a lightweight text-based digital book format that allows the text to automatically conform (or “reflow”) to these smaller screens. And because EPUB is a free, open standard supported by a growing ecosystem of digital reading devices, works you download from Google Books as EPUBs won’t be tied to or locked into a particular device. We’ll also continue to make available these books in the popular PDF format so you can see images of the pages just as they appear in the printed book.
This announcement expands the availability of Google’s public domain books beyond its partnership with Sony. It’s clear that Google, like Barnes & Noble, is now pursuing a multi-pronged, device-independent approach to establishing itself in the e-book market. A million titles sounds like a good way to entice users to explore their offering – they only question is if that exploration will translate into an ability to sell other, non-public domain books.
Again, one has to wonder what publishers like Penguin and other purveyors of classic literature think of this move?
Sony has made good on its recent promise to add an e-reader with wireless capabilities by announcing its new PRS-900 (a.k.a. the Reader Daily Edition). The device features a 7-inch touch-screen, a size which places it clearly between the Amazon’s Kindle and Kindle DX devices, at a price of $399.
In an interesting twist, Sony is working to enable libraries to lend electronic books:
Sony used the launch event at the New York Public Library to highlight some notable new features of its e-book platform. Most notable is the expansion of support for library loans to the Sony Readers. If your local library supports electronic lending, members will be able to download the borrowed books and transfer them to the Reader for 21 days (after which the files expire). Sony is partnering with Overdrive.com to make it easier to search for available books at participating libraries.
The launch of this device also cements Sony’s commitment to the Epub format, an emerging open-standard for e-books that balances multiple device vendors while still enabling DRM schemes to prevent piracy.
I remember the thrill of the “choose your own adventure” books from my childhood. My favorite was a time-traveling series in which you got to be various famous people throughout history (for me, I preferred being Miyamoto Musashi). Now, publisher ChooseCo is going to revitalize the genre, as well as update it for the Kindle and iPhone – another great example of the possibilities of these new devices.
[via Jezebel]
David Carnoy has the scoop on a new device from iRex Technologies due to drop in the fall:
- 8.1-inch display
- 3G wireless connectivity (no carrier announced)
- Touch screen with stylus navigation
- Fall 2009 release
This device is clearly targeted at competing with the Kindle DX on the basis of both form factor and wireless capabilities. At $400 ($90 less that the Kindle DX), Amazon could have a fight on its hand. A lot depends on the carrier iRex chooses, as well as their claim the device will “tie-in with one of the large online e-book sellers.”, a move obviously designed to address one of its larger weaknesses: the lack of an online e-book store. Whether this means iRex will partner with Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or another book seller is still open to speculation.
After facing continued competitive pressure from Amazon’s new Kindle devices and a host of other new competitors, Sony has taken the covers off two new devices as previously rumoured: the PRS-300 (a.k.a. the Reader Pocket Edition) and the PRS-600 (a.k.a. the Reader Touch Edition). The PRS-300 provides a compact reader at a reasonable price of $199, whereas the PRS-600 is a larger touchscreen device that costs $299 (again, confirming prior pricing rumors).
The move signals that Sony is serious about competing against Amazon. Not only is it dropping the price of the devices, it’s also dropping the cost of new bestsellers to match Amazon.com’s price point of $9.99. This will undoubtedly worry publishers, as $9.99 seems to rapidly developing into the e-book equivalent of 99-cent MP3s.
Unfortunately, despite continuing the trend of a touchscreen interface pioneered by PRS-700, neither of these two devices feature any wireless capabilities. While this has allowed Sony to move faster into multiple markets by eliminating the need to negotiate with carriers in the each market, the lack of wireless adds friction to the process of purchasing a book: you need to buy the book, download it to your computer, plug in the e-reader, and then transfer the book to e-reader.
Sony has responded to this criticism by stating it intends to introduce a wireless device, but has yet to announce a specific device or timeframe.
It’ll take more than an apology by Jeff Bezos to make the problems caused by Amazon.com’s “1984″ fiasco and the resulting class action lawsuit go away. So says Paul Sweeting at GigaOm, who has written a great article echoing what many have been thinking in light of the “1984″ fallout – this is only the beginning of Amazon.com’s problems (or any book store selling a network-connected e-book reader for that matter):
Even if Amazon were to promise not to do it again (as part of a settlement with Gawronski, say) it won’t be possible to un-ring that bell. Amazon now will undoubtedly face demands (and perhaps court orders) in future copyright disputes to use its powers to zap the offending files en masse, thus turning unwitting Kindle users into legal cannon fodder. The capability could also land Amazon in the middle of the brewing controversy over software “kill switches,” which may soon come complete with subpoenas from the Federal Trade Commission and “invitations” to testify before Congress.