Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
I solved most of the issues you mention by switching to reading mostly on a tablet.
In project management, there is an old saying - Cheap, Fast, Easy.
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As an IT person, I'm very familiar with the truth in that statement. But seriously, it's not been "fast" anymore, we are talking a decade. A decade in which tablets have seen great improvements and they have come down in price below eInk readers.
I think the culprit is that eInk has turned out to be a niche market even among those who read ebooks (this forum being an exception).
Smartphones sell in the billions. Tablets sell in the hundreds of millions. eInk readers?
I think the other factor is the market has gone with integrated device/stores (Amazon, Kobo). You can't just make the eInk device and let someone else make the ebook app.
Amazon was ultra competitive when they entered and then dominated the market. The whole "buy a Kindle and get every NYT's best seller for $9.99" spurred on the market back when the devices themselves cost $400. That's what kicked off the war with the publishers in the first place.
But that was then, and this is now. Amazon has little competition they need to worry about.
Consider the Amazon app. It still doesn't have the wonderful features from Stanza, a company they bought many years ago. Every ebook app that isn't tied to a store (Kobo, iBooks) is better than the Kindle app.
It's not a horrible app. It's a decent app. But there is simply no incentive for Amazon to spend much time and resources making it better