Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
US population in 1900: 76 million
Us population in 2000: 280 million
Forget the 40% who read more than 1 book per year. Do the math on 10% and you'll find that the number is greater than the annual iPhone sales.
I am not saying it will happen in 2009, ereaders are here to stay. It's different technology. It's a niche product, in the sense that Hard cover books are a niche product. Or smart phones.
P.S. And again, downloading a free app on the iPhone is easy to do. It doesn't mean people will actually read books on a 3.5" back-lit screen. I can watch movies on my 24" iMac too, but I don't. I have a large TV for that.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
First, $350 is not a huge amount - many spend more on a dinner with friends.
Second, I am not arguing against convergence, just that at the present time, I don't see an alternative to the e-ink technology. It is a different animal, as I said before. Much better for reading than your iPod. Much. Trust me, I have both.
It is more like paper, thus easier on your eyes over longer periods. When something similar comes along which can do full motion in color, of course it would take over. But there is nothing like this, that you should wait for.
Bigger, cheaper e-ink type screens will come in the next year or so, and so will greater sales.
This is totally anecdotal evidence, but it seems over the past year a third of my friends have purchased an e-reader. Not all are such avid readers. I think Amazon is really spearheading this in the US, and within a year or two it will do it in Europe.
|
Whoa buddy, calm down! Jesus. I guess ereaders have fanboys. I always hate people that get so defense over some product the spent money on.
It's great that you like it, but jesus christ no reason to be so sensitive.
I love my ereader. I love e-ink. But I'm not so blindly loyal to it that I think they're going to be some huge success and sell in numbers like cell phones, ipods or dvd players. Reading is just not that popular in today's culture. So a multifunction device down the road that has e-ink (or something new that looks as much like paper) that can also do full web browsing, computing, movie playback etc. stands a better chance of spreading the market.
And $350 is a lot of money, and you're a rich snob if you think many/most people spend that on dinner with friends. It's especially a lot of money for an ereader, I even think the $200 I paid for my used Kindle 1 was a bit much.
And your evidence is entirely anecdotal. I work in academia so I have a large group of friends who read a ton and make decent money. I'm the first to get an ereader and many think I was crazy to pay $200 for something to read ebooks.
Anyway, I don't know what you're issue is. All of us here like/love our ereaders. But that doesn't mean we have to be blind fanboys and expect someday soon the majority of people will have one.
There's a clear and reasonably sized market for them. They're not going anywhere and companies will make a profit on them. But they'll be a niche market item for the foreseeable future, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I don't see why anyone would be so defensive over
perceived "insults" toward a piece of electronics. But I guess I should no better from all the non-sense fanboyism that goes on with video game consoles. But at least most of those people are nerdy kids.