E-books one of the biggest technology flops?

[Alexander Turcic]

I am sure this headline is enough to make your fresh milk sour, but editors of Computerworld in their eternal wisdom have named e-books - and the Sony Reader in particular - one of the 21 biggest technology flops that have "utterly failed to live up to their hype."

E-book readers started being sold about 10 years ago and are still being developed. The most recent entrant into the market is the Sony Reader. But they're still a flop. ... [T]he devices themselves just aren't good enough yet. Some folks find them unwieldy; others say they're difficult to use. And for many people, there's just no replacing the old-fashioned, reassuring feel of paper.

Link: Full story

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

The headline might have made my milk sour, but the picture you included got it bubblin'... uh, how much did you say that lucious little device costs, miss?

But seriously... although the quote you included clearly states their position, it's really just heresay, subjective comments. More telling, I think, is this:

Originally Posted by Computerworld

However, e-books are much in need of standardization. Specifically, the number of potential formats for e-books remains huge -- the Wikipedia entry for e-books lists more than 20 formats. It's not pleasant to contemplate buying an e-reader and then finding out that a book or periodical you want is available only in an incompatible format.

I have to agree with them there. We need to bring down e-Babel, and soon.

More hype than use? Doesn't an excessive amount of hype mean that it's been heard by more than just the core people interested in it?

It's very hard to say something is over-hyped when most people have never heard of E-books and even the stores selling the ereader weren't sure if they carried it or what it was.

Sounds like a reviewer is still trying to justify his stand on the ereader being a complete piece of trash that will never sell. ("I know you like your new ereader, boss, but it's a fluke! Look! This new article I wrote AGREES it's a flop! It'll never sell more than a couple hundred units! Would you quite reading that thing and listen to me?)

Okay, I will agree that calling it an "iPod for books" was over-hyped since the programs associated with it plus the large amount of third part adds are what make the iPod the current hyperbole target and no ereader out there has anything except its nice, clear type and great read time.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

At least, unlike most of the other products in their list, e-books are still coming along. Not sure why they'd call something an ultimate flop, when it's still being developed... they should reserve such a moniker for products that are clearly dead and gone, IMO.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

The headline might have made my milk sour, but the picture you included got it bubblin'... uh, how much did you say that lucious little device costs, miss?

Heh, I thought of ways for e-books to make up for the technology flop.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Heh, I thought of ways for e-books to make up for the technology flop.

Yeah, but that too will be better when they come in color!

[TadW]

I think CW was just looking for random technologies that are not mainstream to get their 21 flops. Saying that e-books have utterly failed and at the same commenting that "devices themselves just aren't good enough yet" - YET! - is enough for me to consider this article utter crap.

[Hadrien]

I think that e-book as a concept has been a flop so far, 30 years ago people were already talking about e-books too and got disappointed because it never became widely used.

E-ink devices cannot be considered a flop so far. They solve one of the biggest problem that we had with e-books: it's a screen, yet it's as good looking as a book. They can really turn the concept of e-books into a hit.

[Bob Russell]

We need to remember that the author is trying to get some shock value and interest fromthe article. So, when translated, "flop" means that it's not living up to a very high potential. As someone noted, e-books are still in the early stages and moving forward, not a "has-been" like some of the other items whose day has passed them by.

And both Sony Reader and e-ink are a remarkable step forward, along with some of the previous lcd devices and PDAs/Smartphones in general. With the Sony Reader, we now finally have a commercial product that works well for the average person on the street that loves books. And I bet that interest and sales have exceeded Sony expectations. I'd say that's not really what you would legitimately call a "flop".

Look at the quote Alex pulled from the recent Business Week article. Sounds promising to me, even if they did forget about the Sony Librie.

The Sony Reader is a very good first foray into the electronic book market. While there's no substitute for the feel you get with a real book, with a few adjustments to the software, and as more books become available digitally, it could quickly turn into the device everyone wants to have.

But, I think the point is right if you look past the sensationalism - e-books have super potential and could have been much further along. They are, relatively speaking, a disappointment so far to fans and critics alike, mostly because of DRM and format issues.

But even as a disappointment, for those that care enough to get over all the obstacles and don't mind the small early market, I'd say it's still pretty exciting, as we can see from the enthusiasm at MobileRead. It's not because MobileRead is a perfect web site that it's so much fun to talk about and learn about e-books and devices. It's because it's a great topic and there are many of us with a very real interest. It's very good to know I'm not the only one, because this general and widespread appeal is a huge reason why e-books are destined to be a future success. Someday...

[CommanderROR]

I must also say that this article seems like a bit misleading...

The Devices are not perfect yet, but that's not really an issue yet. The only thing I would say is truly lacking is readily and easily available LEGAL content. That has also been one of the big problems when ebooks first appeared...and it will continue to be that way until all the DRM problems are finally solved. Either we need one universal (DRM or no) format or we need ebooks that can easily be converted to multiple formats.

Calling ebooks a failure is clearly not realistic...the success of the Sony Reader has clearly surprised even Sony...and they built and advertised the thing...

[CCDMan]

Well, I enjoy my flop every day so far.

[Liviu_5]

After reading the article and seeing the actual proposed flops I agree that e-books are different from most of the other items because they have not been bypassed by anything and to suggest that the book scene will remain forever mostly paper is ridiculous. Sure paper books have some advantages and they will still be with us for a while but more and more reading is done digitally.

The move to e-publishing is bumpy, slower than we here would like it, but it happens as we see for example with newspapers and magazines most dramatically, and I think it will only accelerate as more external pressures mount over publishers/brick and mortar sellers

And similarly with some other things on that list that while flops the way stated there, they are actually happening in more useful and acceptable form (net currency, well we have PayPal, virtual reality well maybe not with goggles but the Net is evolving quite dramatically toward a parallel reality with all the social sites including this one and fantasy ones like Second Life)

[DougFNJ]

My thoughts are mixed on this article. Although I definitely wouldn't call it a flop, I look at it more as up and coming. If you look at the digital music industry before the Ipod came in, they could had written the same thing about that subject. There were so many failures that came out until 2001-2002. Now when you think digital music, there is one device that comes to mind.

At this point as great as our Readers are, you still dont see them all over, and there is still not a lot of recognition out there, or high enough demand in the E-book market. I think E-Ink in general is beginning to, and will continue to change that. We are definitely alot further along tech wise where e-books are concerned, but there is still a long way to go before this becomes a technology that everybody has and uses, and/or wants. I think when we are able to integrate magazines and newspapers in the same page format as the paper versions, and popular comic books for the kids, then we will see significant growth.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I am sure this headline is enough to make your fresh milk sour, but editors of Computerworld in their eternal wisdom have named e-books - and the Sony Reader in particular - one of the 21 biggest technology flops that have "utterly failed to live up to their hype."

eBook exec 1: Hey! Let's price eBooks at the same price a hardcover. After all, having an "e" before "book" means that the consumers are getting something special - just like a hardcover book. Never mind that creating an eBook costs almost nothing compared to a hardcover.
eBook exec 2: And the DRM. Don't forget that. We don't want those pesky reader loaning, selling or giving away their eBooks. That would cut into our profit margin.
eBook exec 3: And let's change the format or reader every year or so to make sure that people have to re-purchase their eBooks if they want to re-read them.
eBook exec 1: Great ideas! It's like printing money!

Does anyone wonder why eBooks didn't live up to their hype?

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

The only thing I would say is truly lacking is readily and easily available LEGAL content.

Hear, hear!

I went to Baen again this week to try to find something to buy to support them, and since I'm not really into military SF, I'm out of luck. Oddly enough, everything they offer that I want is in the "free library." And to be honest, even if I wanted to mess around with DRM, there's still very little out there (on the legal market) that I'm interested in buying.