Quote:
Originally Posted by DD1509
With the pending Apple tablet and now the Microsoft via Kurzweil reader software, is this spelling the death of the E-Ink screen? The big TWO are going to push a color screen with back lighting. They want a rich, robust, backlit color environment. B&N helped a bit toward this goal by adding color in their 2nd display at the bottom of the Nook. The future looks like it will be an LED screen.
Can the E-Ink display hold off this onslaught? Will it simply become a blip on the radar of the history of eBooks when we look back in 5 years?
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Oh, dear. The myth of the Apple Tablet as eReader killer.
People were having wet dreams about Apple getting into the ereader market, pointing to the i:Phone/iTouch as examples of what Apple
could do. Right. Won't happen. The ereader market simply isn't big enough to be worth Apple's while.
And while Apple may release a tablet, I'll be real surprised if reading ebooks is even mentioned by Apple as something you would do with it.
I expect an Apple tablet to be well designed, as in
looking good as well as performing well. I expect it to have a superior UI for the intended purposes, because Apple has always been concerned with ease of use. I expect it to
cost.
What about any of that would kill dedicated readers?
eInk is popular for two reasons. First, the biggest factor in battery life on a handheld device is usually trhe screen, and eInk screens use very little power. Unlike LED and LCD displays, they don't need to be contunualy refreshed to retain the image on screen. Second, a
lot of people find extended reading a
lot more comfortable on an eInk display.
I don't care how good Apple's tablet is. It won't address those issues.
I see an Apple tablet being quite successful. I don't see it affecting the dedicated reader market at all. The people a reader appeals to are not the ones Apple would make a tablet for.
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Dennis