"Future Of E-Readers Looks Blurry"

[Sweetpea]

The market for dedicated mobile phones and dedicated MP3 players is also shared by multi-purpose devices. The same will go for dedicated ereaders. Some people want a dedicated device, others will want a multi-purpose device.

I personally want both. A dedicated reader for my pure novel reading twitch (for those times you just can't put away your book, no matter the time and place), and a multi-purpose device for when I want to read larger (in print) sized books, magazines, newspapers, browse the internet, and those others things I now use my PC for (you know, for those days when you're doing about a dozen things at the same time...)

[LDBoblo]

I'm too amazed that ebooks, at their current state of sophistication and availability, and their devices, with their extreme limitations in usability and quality, are even popular at all today. It defies reason enough that a logical short-term future for the industry is questionable.

Therefore, I suppose ebook readers will be replaced in 2011 by crocodiles.

[Enraptured]

Phones that can play MP3s didn't make dedicated MP3 players go away; why would tablets that can display books make dedicated readers go away?

I would only use a tablet for reading if it had a screen as easy to read from as an e-ink screen. Otherwise, I'm not interested.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I'm too amazed that ebooks, at their current state of sophistication and availability, and their devices, with their extreme limitations in usability and quality, are even popular at all today. It defies reason enough that a logical short-term future for the industry is questionable.

Therefore, I suppose ebook readers will be replaced in 2011 by crocodiles.

Yes, maybe even Lacoste will bring their own branded readers. Everybody and his dog seems to try to get in on the action in 2010. 6 million units and counting. Then with color in 2011 it might double again.

[ficbot]

There is for sure a market for dedicated devices. Using the phone as an example, I could get an iphone and it would replace my phone and my ipod Touch. But it also requires a really expensive contract, and I don't use a phone enough to justify it. It is much cheaper for me to have a very inexpensive phone plan with corresponding cheap phone.

Similarly, there still seems to be a market for garlic presses and other 'unitasker' kitchen gadgets even though you could theoretically do it all with a chef's knife

[HansTWN]

And once color reading screens are really "reader worthy" (power consumption almost zero, no heat, no eye strain) then readers similar to today's models will sell in large quantities at a price point around 50 USD or lower and paperbacks may become an endangered species.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by ficbot

There is for sure a market for dedicated devices. Using the phone as an example, I could get an iphone and it would replace my phone and my ipod Touch. But it also requires a really expensive contract, and I don't use a phone enough to justify it. It is much cheaper for me to have a very inexpensive phone plan with corresponding cheap phone.

Similarly, there still seems to be a market for garlic presses and other 'unitasker' kitchen gadgets even though you could theoretically do it all with a chef's knife

I agree, when I got the reader I thought "why on earth did they put a music player on this device?" I have a stereo, my phone, a computer -- why would I need yet another music playing device? Apart from the fact that it is distracting to listen to music while reading -- but I am sure other people feel differently about that, however, they could still play music from their phones which we always have with us, anyway.

[kennyc]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lo Zeno]

I have a laptop with a powerful MediaCenter software in it. Yet under my TV there's a DVD reader and recorder, and I use that a lot.

My personal computer is capable of receiving TV channels and record them. But during dinner I watch my TV.

I have a smartphone which can, among a thousand other things, play MP3s exceptionally well. Yet I still have (and use) my mp3 player.

Half of the devices I listed above CAN and DO display ebooks. Yet I still use my V3 when I want to read.

Why? Because of a ton of reasons... one of which is that "they're still easier and quicker to use". When I want to record a TV show, I select the channel, push on "Record", then select "on Disk", and the TV show is saved onto a DVD; if I do the same on my PC I have to -> open MediaCenter -> Connect TV Tuner -> Wait for connection -> Select Channel -> click Record, and after that, ->Copy to CD/DVD

That's just ONE example, an not the only reason, but only the one that all those dedicated devices have in common.

[Jack Tingle]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

For a tablet to be successful it needs to run Windows (be honest, business wont buy them if they don't, schools wont buy them etc). That means a tablet will need probably a minimum of the Intel Atom 1.6 to run. That will make the device heavy and hot (with fans as well).

I'd say there's an outside shot for WinCE or the iPhone version of MacOS. Those have much lower hardware/power requirements (400 MHz ARMs, for example). Combine them with a low power 5-9" b&w display of whatever kind, and you might pull it off. The WiFi/Bluetooth/cellular radios would have to be under tight control, and the display would not be backlit. You'd also probably want a Wacom digitizer, which would add weight, cost and power, but will help screen legibility a lot. I'd give a tablet a 35% chance of success given all that.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[markbot]

It is conceivable that a tablet with a next generation color bistable screen like mirasol could have an "ereader" switch so that it consumes less power. in regular power mode, the tablet can run windows, etc. the ereader application and switch are very very very low marginal cost for a tablet that already runs more sophisticated applications. thus the kindle would just be an application.

i can also see an ereader dedicated devices even when tablets get color e-ink screens if they are substantially specialize and are cheaper.

[David Derrico]

Oh, good, another article written by someone who has clearly never used an e-reader and doesn't understand what e-reader users are looking for.

Supplant that lack of knowledge with quotes by companies touting their own products as better than anything else and... voila! A completely useless article.

Someday, e-readers as we know them will be obsolete, when we're using multifunction devices with foldable color e-ink screens that are easy on the eyes and display video but the battery lasts for a month. That day is not in 2010, and that device is not any of the tablets coming out next year.

[BigWaffles]

Like a lot of people I can't read for any length of time on a backlit screen without eye strain. So until they get a single display that can function like a current LCD and something similar to e-ink at the same time, I'll have a dedicated e-reader. I think there are enough people like me to keep the market alive.


C.P.T.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by BigWaffles

Like a lot of people I can't read for any length of time on a backlit screen without eye strain. So until they get a single display that can function like a current LCD and something similar to e-ink at the same time, I'll have a dedicated e-reader. I think there are enough people like me to keep the market alive.


C.P.T.

And there will soon be such screens (in case you haven't read the many posts about them), and they may be on multifunction tablets.

There'll probably still be an ebook reader market because some companies will need to pick up the low-end of the tech scale. There are enough bottom feeders that dedicated devices should be around for some time.

[BigWaffles]

I was under the impression that they were of the back-lit variety, not e-ink. I'll have to re-read some of those posts.


C.P.T.