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Y'know, I'd love to be able to build a kiosk, take it to local bookstores and arrange for floor or desk space, in exchange for a cut of my profits. It could be a simple desktop system, a small computer with a miniscule hard drive (just enough to hold the e-books and store data), a touch-screen, the browser- or Flash-based interface, and an internet connection. The device would allow people to browse books, select, pay for online, and either download their book on the spot or e-mail it to the address of their preference (which makes it ideal for gifting!).
About the only issue is the transfer method on-site: There's no really standardized method of delivering the content to a user, because all devices do things differently. Even among physical interface similarities, delivery protocols for electronic files differ so much. And there's cross-contamination to be concerned about (you don't want to be passing viruses around!).
Of course, you could try to establish and offer a few fairly popular delivery methods, and default to e-mail if none of them work (leaving it up to the user to initiate some sort of test for compatibility, nothing more complex than plugging in a USB cable or responding to a wireless signal).
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