|
I don't think anybody really knows what's going on. Numbers like this are unsure at best. We don't know their source and we have lots of reasons to doubt they can have real numbers. It might be true. It might not be. We don't know and I doubt if they know. They might have done their best but how good is that?
The thing is it's in the publisher's interest to push numbers like this so they do it. I have no idea if publishers are behind this article but they're behind a lot of them. Publishers have fought ebooks tooth and nail and they're still fighting and they're probably having more than a little effect.
I think Amazon and B&N and Kobo are as much to blame, for some of the reasons listed above. There are a few ereaders at a few prices and they're all really pretty much the same. Some have a light and some don't but that's really the only important difference. Some are bigger but most are not and even the bigger ones aren't much bigger and where are the smaller ones?
If booksellers weren't the source of our ereaders we'd have a lot more variety and a lot more to choose from.
I don't see any of this changing any time soon but who knows what might happen in the future. Someone might develop a really good phone screen for reading, indoors and out. Or someone might find a way to get Amazon to let them make a competing ereader to read Kindle books. Anything can happen and until it does ereaders aren't really competing very seriously.
Personally I have no doubt that in time, and I have no idea how much time, the world will switch to ebooks for the most part. There'll always be books but ebooks just make too much sense not to win the race in the end. I doubt if it'll happen while we have to get our devices from our book sellers.
Barry
|