Shelf Awareness presents an optimistic article on Digital Reading, including comments by Bill McCoy of Adobe Systems, Dan Albohn of Sony, Willem Endhoven of iRex Technologies, and Brent Lewis of Harlequin Books.
Each (understandably) addresses a different area and perception of e-books: Adobe emphasizes getting the content out there; Sony is shooting for the right price to make e-books popular, and wants the reader not to associate e-books with "just computer and cell phone screens"; iRex echoed the "content is king" idea, downplaying specific devices; and Harlequin reminded everybody that e-books aren't just dominated by "the nerds," that female romance readers are the fastest growing segment, and emphasized letting the customers pick favorite formats.
They saved the best quote for last:
Quote:
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Lewis said that ultimately the readers will decide what works best: "All great technology is invisible to the end user. The key is that consumers want a device they don't have to think about."
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Hear, hear.
Read the article here.
Thanks to Rita Toews for pointing me to this article!