Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolenka
On the device side, I'd probably agree it is Amazon vs Sony for the most part.
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It's only Amazon vs. Sony today. Tomorrow is another matter. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is simply going to destroy them even though the tablet will be LCD-based. I'm sad about that, because I prefer reading on e-ink vs. LCD by far, as does anyone who frequents this board, but the commercial fact of the matter is that Apple will completely dominate this market within just a couple of years, just like they wiped out all competition on the audio market. It's simply a matter of a short time. E-ink based devices will be super-tiny-niche based products that will appease the small user base that are e-ink fanatics, but Apple will simply wipe out everything else. And why? Paradoxically, precisely because it's LCD-based. Given the choice between a black and white device that requires additional lighting to read and screen response times that are so low as to make anything but simple text unavailable, and a device that is full-color, fast-response movie-capable refresh rate, can do anything under the sun including e-read books, and the vast, vast majority of people will head straight for that device every time. E-ink isn't dead - but Apple's tablet will ensure that it remains a niche product that very few people (relatively speaking) use to read books. It will completely revolutionize e-reading for the masses simply because it will draw in the masses in a way that even Amazon cannot hope to ever accomplish with the Kindle. I do find that disappointing, but unfortunately that is the way of commercialization, and my prediction is that the Apple tablet will effectively end any serious further development into e-ink based tech.