Are E-Readers Already Obsolete or The Start Of Something Big?
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Stephen King's definition of a Kindle: "A gadget with stories hiding inside it.
What's wrong with that?"
E-Readers, also known as digital or electronic readers, allow users to wirelessly
download books and read them on hand-held devices which resemble a glorified
etch-a-sketch. Well not exactly, but these handy little electronic readers have
become very popular, according to a recent article in Time, Amazon has already
sold 1.7 million units of their Kindle E-Reader since it was launched in 2007.
The Time article further states: According to the Association of American
Publishers total revenue from digital-book downloads has risen 149% this year,
while they estimate e-readers sales to top 3 million by Dec. 31. And according
to Forrester Research around 1 million of these gadgets could be sold this
holiday season, and sales in 2010 are projected to double, to 6 million.
"The year 2009 is a breakout year for e-readers," says Sarah Rotman Epps,
an analyst with Forrester Research. "But we're still in the early stages."
But Amazon has probably seen the light, as well as the sales numbers and are
moving full-steam ahead. Amazon recently announced it will be introducing the
Kindle into more than 100 countries - complete with a feature that allows
owners to wirelessly download Amazon e-books. There is definitely a ready
market for such a device and for such a service as consumers are the ultimate
judge and jury for any product.
Where there's a profit to be made, other companies will follow, cue wagon stage left.
Just like when Asustek invented the category of Netbook with its ASUS Eee-PC
in 2007, other laptop makers and sellers quickly jumped on the bandwagon and
the marketplace was flooded with netbooks or mini-laptops.
This recent trend towards E-Readers will prove no different, take for
example Sony, who introduced the first electronic reader way back in 2004,
will be introducing three new devices according to the Time's article.
The Sony Reader will have a Pocket Edition ($199), sporting a 5-inch-diagonal
screen, Touch Edition ($299) which will be touchscreen-equipped and the
Daily Edition ($399), which will feature wireless capability.
Asus is also entering the E-Reader market with a product called the
Eee-reader which should be on the market for Christmas. Then there
is the Fujitsu FLEPia which is the only commercially available E-Reader
which has a color display. It's only available in Japan and costs around
$1,100. Ouch!
For the more modest consumer, the Irex Digital Reader will be hitting U.S.
stores this month, October 2009. The DR800 will have an 8.1-in. touchscreen
with wireless connectivity and will sell for $90 less than the similarly
sized Kindle DX, which will set you back around $489. This is the price at
the time of writing, expect those prices to drop as competition heats up.
On the horizon, there are many different versions of the e-reader that will
hit the market. There is even a fold up model which will open like a book
and another one called the Polymer Vision Readius which is also a phone but
it has a flexible screen that folds up around the phone to make it extra portable.
Then we have the looming debut of Apple's fabled iTablet which could be a game
changer in the whole E-Reader arena. It could also be a Kindle-Killer given
Apple's enormous popularity with tech savvy consumers who only want the latest
gadget on the market.
One really has to question why all this popularity for the E-Reader, especially
since we already have the small portable netbook on the market, which can be
easily used for reading books. More specifically, we already have Tablet PCs
which could easily fulfill this reading function. Granted they may be slightly
larger, but they also offer all the features of a laptop, so why not just
convert/use this device as an E-Reader?
Of course, the E-Reader probably has the cool factor in its corner and may
be the tech gadget of the moment. Plus, there are those people who want
their tech devices to perform only one task, in this case, offering up
a cosy read that's equivalent to a real book experience. Purests will
shiver at just the thought of such a ridiculous notion. They want their
books the old-fashion way, ink on paper and hold the batteries.
Will the E-Reader be another one of those passing tech fads, here today
and gone tomorrow? Will it go the way of the Do-Do bird and become extinct
or something more horrible, become outdated before it even gets a chance
to really fly. Will it be replaced by more fully loaded gadgets that will
do everything electronically imaginable?
Eventually, with new advancements like flexible screens, we will see the
advent of a tech gadget that will perform all these functions. A full-body
"Swiss Army Knife" version doodad that will be a phone, laptop, web browser,
camera, TV and of course E-Reader... plus, stuff that we haven't even
invented yet. Exit Blackberry stage right and cue violin music.
Those of us who ponder such new inventions and gadgets can't help but
conjure up the ultimate communication device and system. Many of us still
dream of the longed for fabled "Google Box" which would give us all the above
neatly wrapped around something like the Google Wave.
We wonder why Google doesn't just stop pussy-footing around with one third
party partner after another, depending on them to supply and deliver to
the masses, Google's programs and information. Instead, Google should
design and create their own device which would unify all their countless
programs and applications into one convenient medium.
They could even take a hint from the ancient Romans, who sat down and
designed the aqueduct system to supply water to the masses. They could
even further follow the Romans by making some people pay for the system,
while the less fortunate would get it for free.
Google needs an advertising medium that's freely available to every
person on the planet, the Internet just doesn't cut it anymore. They
need to go beyond and have a direct wireless connection with all their
users, even where the web is not available or too slow. Direct instant
communication with all their customers and clients. Besides, a King
without a Kingdom is just a virtual wanabe, time is ripe for Google
to enter the real world!
Creating a fully loaded E-Reader like gadget centered around its massive
search engine index and Google Books would be a great starting point.
Filling such a device with all of its popular programs such as Google Wave,
Google Earth, Google Latitude, Google Maps, iGoogle, Google Chrome, Google
Docs, Google Books... would consolidate Google's sprawing, scatered empire
into one unified entity people could actually get their hands on. Wouldn't
such a handy practical device be the next logical step in Google's evolution,
especially in our Utopia challenged world?
Now wouldn't that be the perfect wave!
...
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites.
For more information on netbooks click here: best netbooks
For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins.
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