Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
Yep.
Currently ebooks are selling to serious readers who are into gadgets.
Prices come down, and better readers come out, then you'll see more more and more serious readers get on board. A unified format would help a great deal expanding the market to avid readers as others have pointed out.
Then the final expansion is to casual readers who can get ebooks on their phones, pdas, and other gadgets going forward.
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I think that everybody has said a portion of the the truth. The scenario is complex and there is not a single thing holding back acceptability of readers and ebooks.
IMHO all the factors mentioned are valid and have to be summed one to the other:
- Ereader price
- ebook formats
- lack of colour
- need to be tech savvy
I do not believe that ebook price are to blame, as by far and large they closely resemble the paper prices, at the worst. See Amazon for the kindle, but also all the other ebook shops. And everyday the price of many books (not all, granted) go down. But the market is too small.
Nor do I think that casual readers will help.
I personally believe that there is a killing application which very few see :
schools. If ereaders shall make it into schools, as textbooks an avalanche will follow, and all the problems above will disappear, most likely.