Quote:
Originally Posted by elcreative
Repeating the same old line won't make it happen any more than putting out a mince pie for Santa works... Many of us already have both tablets and eReaders and still prefer eInk for recreational reading to using LCD screens. Tablets are fine for many things (and you can already get many perfectly functional tablets for less than £100) recreational and otherwise but, for straight novel reading, eInk wins hands down. Just because someone posts their ideas in a blog doesn't make them any more correct than those of us who don't need a blog to decide what we want.
Also if tablet costs drop why wouldn't eReader prices do the same like any other electronics products e.g. just seen 64GB memory sticks for £28... even a year ago such things would have been nearer £100... Gaming PCs were going to kill the console market... still going... even vinyl keeps going, maybe niche but still there... new doesn't necessarily eliminate older...  |
Did you read the article I linked to? The writer makes two points: (1) the technology underlying epub is ancient tech and (2) the publishing industry is being disaggregated.
Do you believe either point to be untrue?
As I understand the writer's conclusion, the net effect of these two factors is that dedicated EBRs based on epub and related formats are increasingly irrelevant, because they are being left in the dust technologically, and the publishing ecosystem they depend on is disappearing.
I merely add a third point, which is that it appears to me that Amazon does not intend to sell EBRs if there's not a profit to be made on that sale, without reference to the sale of ebooks.
Everyone seems to assume that for the dividing line between the old analog technology and the new digital technology, dedicated EBRs are on the digital side. But if in fact EBRs, despite being digital devices, are aligned with technology that is out of date, and depend on a pre-digital business arrangment that is being destroyed by the internet, for economic purposes they might be transitional devices, not permanent features of the digital future. I think that Amazon is betting that way. Apple already has. Sony has bet otherwise, and seems to be sinking. B&N appears to be hedging on the question, but ultimately, they'll have to do what Amazon is doing.