Looks like the ereader is not dead but growing

HLS · 03-29-2018, 06:40 AM

I just read an article that the future of ereaders is good

https://thetechnicalprogress.com/201...rm-investment/

maddz · 03-29-2018, 07:39 AM

Yes, well, I certainly can't afford $4000 to read the report...

HarryT · 03-29-2018, 07:44 AM

Note that they are "a Market Intelligence and consulting firm with a comprehensive experience and rich knowledge of the market research industry". In other words, they'll write you a report (for a large fee) that says whatever you want it to say.

j.p.s · 03-29-2018, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Note that they are "a Market Intelligence and consulting firm with a comprehensive experience and rich knowledge of the market research industry". In other words, they'll write you a report (for a large fee) that says whatever you want it to say.

Exactly.

They could be considered the goodereader of market research firms except that all market research firms are the goodereader of market research firms.

Reminds me of year after year after year reports from big name firms predicting that microsoft was on the verge of taking over the phone industry.

frahse · 03-29-2018, 09:48 PM

It is not difficult to be a naysayer and to cast stones. I do it myself on occasion.

That said, I think "legacy" type E-readers are here to stay for some years, but I also expect one day that we will have single combination screen that will effectively simulate a standalone "legacy" E-reader as we usually consider it, as well as a more standard Color screen suitable for video. That will be the final test of the "legacy" E-reader.

Pablo · 03-30-2018, 09:59 AM

The e-reader is here to stay, but of course technology will move on, so we can expect current e-paper displays to be replaced with something better in the future.

The basic needs of people who like to read will remain the same: a non-reflective, no eye-straining display, long battery life and little more. If at some point in the future a new display technology with such properties plus color, high speed and high resolution is developed, dedicated e-readers may disappear and be replaced with general purpose devices. I don't foresee anything of the sort for at least five years.

Barbara1955 · 03-30-2018, 11:15 AM

Sure are Growing from 5" to 13"

barryem · 03-30-2018, 12:42 PM

I think ereaders will be around for a long time simply because people are still buying them. As long as there are people to buy them there are going to be companies who make them.

I have no idea how they might change in the future but for someone who loves to read a dedicated ereader is a very nice device and I'll be surprised if they go away.

Barry

j.p.s · 03-30-2018, 04:22 PM

No one in this thread wrote that ereaders are going away. Just pointing out that there is no reason to give any weight to market research firm prognostications.

cfrizz · 03-30-2018, 08:02 PM

My basic needs as a reader are already met by my pc, tablet and phones.

rcentros · 03-30-2018, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.p.s

No one in this thread wrote that ereaders are going away. Just pointing out that there is no reason to give any weight to market research firm prognostications.

That pretty much goes for almost all "research" you'll find reported by the media. "Figures don't lie, but liars figure," as they say. The "professionals" know how to slant the questions to get the answers they're paid to get.

barryem · 04-02-2018, 09:30 PM

The phrase "is dead" has very little meaning in technology. It can mean anything from it's growth rate is declining slightly to it's no longer hugely popular. Sometimes it even means they won't make them anymore but that's kind of rare.

Bloggers and pundits are like the nightly news: they report what gets attention. Even the best of them aren't a great deal better than Goodereader. That said, they're what we have so they're worth reading.

Barry

pwalker8 · 04-04-2018, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

The phrase "is dead" has very little meaning in technology. It can mean anything from it's growth rate is declining slightly to it's no longer hugely popular. Sometimes it even means they won't make them anymore but that's kind of rare.

Bloggers and pundits are like the nightly news: they report what gets attention. Even the best of them aren't a great deal better than Goodereader. That said, they're what we have so they're worth reading.

Barry

You really have to understand where a particular blogger or pundit is coming from before you take what they say as the gospel. Some are hacks, some have agendas, some are blowhards and some actually know what they are talking about.

People still use and can buy vinyl records as well as record players. Some people get very comfortable with something and don't want to change. I know a guy who was still doing all his work in good old MS-DOS on an old 8086 box. Very few technologies are completely dead. There is going to be a pretty big group of people reading on eReaders for a long time.

barryem · 04-04-2018, 05:23 PM

My guess is that not only will people continue to read on ereaders but that ereaders will continue to get better. Although they really do suffer from the problem of being nearly perfect for reading already.

The things that can happen to improve ereaders have little to do with ereading and aren't likely to happen as long as ereaders are made by booksellers to enable them to sell ebooks. Ereaders will get a LOT better when we can pick any reader we want and use it to buy and read books from any ebook store: when hardware companies compete to outdo each other in features, giving us variety.

Unfortunately none of that can happen at present because when the product is ebooks and not ereaders, and ereaders are just a sales tool, ereaders that are good enough are good enough for their makers.

It's not that bad a situation, really. They are excellent in terms of reading experience. I recently bought a Nook Glowlight 3 and with it's latest updates it starts losing books after I put a few on it. At present it says I have about 100 books but I've put over 130 books on it. The rest just don't seem to be there although they show up from my PC. But so what! It's a reading device. I can always delete all the books and put my current book on it and it's an amazingly good reading device and that's what it's really all about. I'm not sorry I got it. I am sorry they screwed it up.

Barry

barryem · 04-04-2018, 05:49 PM

There are and have been some excellent bloggers but the only way they last is in a booming market, which isn't ereaders. At this point the better ones have either stopped blogging or do so minimally. They seem to think that just because they're good at what they do they're entitled to eat.

Barry

03-29-2018, 06:40 AM	#1
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,132 Karma: 16342480 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	Looks like the ereader is not dead but growing I just read an article that the future of ereaders is good https://thetechnicalprogress.com/201...rm-investment/

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03-29-2018, 07:39 AM	#2
maddz Wizard Posts: 1,403 Karma: 30039536 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7	Yes, well, I certainly can't afford $4000 to read the report...

03-29-2018, 07:44 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Note that they are "a Market Intelligence and consulting firm with a comprehensive experience and rich knowledge of the market research industry". In other words, they'll write you a report (for a large fee) that says whatever you want it to say.

03-29-2018, 09:48 PM	#5
frahse occasional author Posts: 2,315 Karma: 2064403292 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Wandering God's glorious hills, valleys and plains. Device: A Franklin BI (before Internet) was the first. I still have it.	It is not difficult to be a naysayer and to cast stones. I do it myself on occasion. That said, I think "legacy" type E-readers are here to stay for some years, but I also expect one day that we will have single combination screen that will effectively simulate a standalone "legacy" E-reader as we usually consider it, as well as a more standard Color screen suitable for video. That will be the final test of the "legacy" E-reader.

03-30-2018, 09:59 AM	#6
Pablo Guru Posts: 972 Karma: 4999999 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rosario, Argentina Device: SONY PRS-T2, Kindle Paperwhite 11th gen	The e-reader is here to stay, but of course technology will move on, so we can expect current e-paper displays to be replaced with something better in the future. The basic needs of people who like to read will remain the same: a non-reflective, no eye-straining display, long battery life and little more. If at some point in the future a new display technology with such properties plus color, high speed and high resolution is developed, dedicated e-readers may disappear and be replaced with general purpose devices. I don't foresee anything of the sort for at least five years.

03-30-2018, 11:15 AM	#7
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,455 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	Sure are Growing from 5" to 13"

03-30-2018, 12:42 PM	#8
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	I think ereaders will be around for a long time simply because people are still buying them. As long as there are people to buy them there are going to be companies who make them. I have no idea how they might change in the future but for someone who loves to read a dedicated ereader is a very nice device and I'll be surprised if they go away. Barry

03-30-2018, 04:22 PM	#9
j.p.s Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,788 Karma: 103362673 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: pb360	No one in this thread wrote that ereaders are going away. Just pointing out that there is no reason to give any weight to market research firm prognostications.

03-30-2018, 08:02 PM	#10
cfrizz Wizard Posts: 1,570 Karma: 36389706 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Quincy, MA Device: Samsung 54A, Kobo Libra H2O, Samsung S6 Lite	My basic needs as a reader are already met by my pc, tablet and phones.

04-02-2018, 09:30 PM	#12
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	The phrase "is dead" has very little meaning in technology. It can mean anything from it's growth rate is declining slightly to it's no longer hugely popular. Sometimes it even means they won't make them anymore but that's kind of rare. Bloggers and pundits are like the nightly news: they report what gets attention. Even the best of them aren't a great deal better than Goodereader. That said, they're what we have so they're worth reading. Barry

04-04-2018, 05:23 PM	#14
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	My guess is that not only will people continue to read on ereaders but that ereaders will continue to get better. Although they really do suffer from the problem of being nearly perfect for reading already. The things that can happen to improve ereaders have little to do with ereading and aren't likely to happen as long as ereaders are made by booksellers to enable them to sell ebooks. Ereaders will get a LOT better when we can pick any reader we want and use it to buy and read books from any ebook store: when hardware companies compete to outdo each other in features, giving us variety. Unfortunately none of that can happen at present because when the product is ebooks and not ereaders, and ereaders are just a sales tool, ereaders that are good enough are good enough for their makers. It's not that bad a situation, really. They are excellent in terms of reading experience. I recently bought a Nook Glowlight 3 and with it's latest updates it starts losing books after I put a few on it. At present it says I have about 100 books but I've put over 130 books on it. The rest just don't seem to be there although they show up from my PC. But so what! It's a reading device. I can always delete all the books and put my current book on it and it's an amazingly good reading device and that's what it's really all about. I'm not sorry I got it. I am sorry they screwed it up. Barry

04-04-2018, 05:49 PM	#15
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	There are and have been some excellent bloggers but the only way they last is in a booming market, which isn't ereaders. At this point the better ones have either stopped blogging or do so minimally. They seem to think that just because they're good at what they do they're entitled to eat. Barry