The Economist: E-books are becoming popular

[hidari]

And so it goes: "Electronic books are becoming popular. Will newspapers follow?"

More importantly, the Kindle and similar devices made by Sony and others represent only one side of the evolving e-reader market. They are for aficionados, since paying $359 for a device makes sense only if you read quite a lot of books, newspapers or magazines on it. For everybody else, such as infrequent readers and the young and cash-strapped, the mobile phone may become the preferred e-reader. ...

It is now only a matter of time until absolutely all books become available, and properly formatted, for mobile phones. Google, an internet giant that has been scanning and digitising books for inclusion in its search engine, now offers thousands of books that are in the public domain free on mobile phones. It seems likely that, eventually, only books that have value as souvenirs, gifts or artefacts will remain bound in paper. ...

Indeed, the Kindle and other e-readers could be a boon to newspapers. With rare exceptions, newspapers have accustomed their readers to expect digital editions to be free. As circulation revenue has declined, this made them dependent on advertising, just as the recession hit. On the Kindle, by contrast, the news has no ads. Instead, readers seem happy to pay for it—just as they pay for services in any other industry that offers something worthwhile.

Full article: link

[yagiz]

Another difference is that music was being widely pirated before Apple made legal downloading attractive. There is no such crisis in the book business.

Hmmm...

[koland]

More importantly, why isn't the Economist available for the Kindle?

[ProDigit]

you know, one day I read about how e-books are not popular, the next about how they are...
I'm not going to fall for it!
It's all a mental game! After the brainwash they will kill you!

[mores]

just like the iPhone was the first touch-screen mobile telephone, the kindle will be the world's first eBook reader - well, the kindle 2 the second, then.
But it's a device that shakes up the world and informs people of a technology that already existed but has been a "for geeks" until now.

[Brainphart]

Originally Posted by koland

More importantly, why isn't the Economist available for the Kindle?

You can use Calibre To download and send The Economist to your Kindle.

[JasonB]

Originally Posted by mores

the kindle will be the world's first eBook reader

Aside from getting into the fact that the Kindle is far from the only reader out there, at present (if I agreed with the statement) I'd have to say that it would be the world's first eBook reader - in the States! LOL

More seriously, I'm waiting to see what provider will allow for eBook purchases from their store globally and/or one that will work with WiFi no matter where you happen to be. Until that happens, readers may have global acceptance (with each region having its own for that particular area of the world), but there still won't be any world-wide "first" reader.