Quote:
Originally Posted by Maggie Leung
Whose expectations, though? If you can afford an e-reader for your kid, that will be his expectation, I'd guess. Many people can't afford 'em, though. I think prices will fall, but market penetration will take lots of time.
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Define time, please.
I expect ready availability of US$49 ereaders by 2015.
Blister packs in drugstore aisles and whatever B&M bookstores survive.
Or:
How prevalent are cellphones?
I expect many smartphone features will migrate to feature phones.
I don't think the US will ever go the way of Japan with a massive ebook market focused almost exclusively on cellphone reading but there's 100 million iPhones out there and an ever growing number or Blackberries, Androids, and Palm phones all of which are ebook-capable.
Or:
How soon willl we see plastic-substrate ebook readers in the K-12 education market? (See pricing above.)
Pocketbook global is launching their 901 model on the back of contracts for their use now in schools in Ukraine and are reportedly in talks with India. Plenty of school districts in the US are evaluating iPads for etextbook use.
The technology is straight out of the cellphone playbook.
The only thing holding it back are the screens but since it is a massive potential market everybody wants a piece of it.
Or:
Nintendo is marketing an ebook reader pack for their DS game box.
They are talking about settingup some kind of download service to go with it.
V-Tech and Leapfrog are currently marketing ebook readers for kids, both well under $100 ($59, I think)
It's coming.
Yes, it's early and mostly a US middle-class thing for now but they'll transcend national and class boundaries soon enough. Its already doing so. Smartphones and Webpads should be very helpful there.
The only long-term limits on ebook reading are the same as for any kind of reading; literacy.