Color eink: maybe now they really do it?

[Quoth]

It's really very small. Friends often do end up with related things.

People with iPhones notice people with iPhones, and likely that's bigger, maybe less than 13% of phones.

One shop here sells ereaders (Argos, Kobo and Kindle). Loads of places sell phones. Of course that 's not a scientific survey either.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

It's really very small.

That makes me sad. I really like my eReader and don't want to see the product go extinct. I'm fine with no new innovations since they are mature enough for me to accept them as-is forever, but I don't want to see them disappear from general availability. My beloved slide rule met that fate, being consigned to the still present but dwindling used market these days. A non-replaceable battery powered device would not have the longevity of a slide rule however.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by haertig

Of all my friends, I can't think of one who does not have an eReader... Maybe things are different for people of extremely meager means (but they don't seem to have any problems buying cellphones much better than the one I own!)

In my circle of friends (which includes a librarian), I know of 4 people who own ereaders - I do, my wife does, my Dad has my old PW, and one friend bought an H202 on my recommendation. And that's it out of a group of perhaps 150 people I interact with several times a week in various settings. Not a scientifically rigorous sample size, but not a statistical outlier either, I'd wager.

Also, as for those of meagre means buying expensive phones rather than cheap phones + ereader, the economics behind that are simple. Our means are nearer the meagre end of the scale, which is why the H202s we have were at the top end of what we could (barely) justify paying for a single purpose device. Our Xiaomi phones, with high-midrange specs cost barely 10% more than a Forma, and can do so MUCH more. When money is an issue, it makes perfect sense to invest it in a multi-purpose device.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by haertig

I can't believe the eReader market is as small as you suggest. Smaller than the cellphone market, sure, but not all that small.

Orders of magnitude smaller than the cellphone market.
Amazon don't publish their sales figures, but the numbers seem to be around or a bit under 10 million Kindles per year, and they are clearly the market leader.
Samsung sold almost 80 million smartphones last quarter. Add in Huawei and Apple and you are at almost 200 million smartphones in the quarter, or almost 800 million in a year.
15-20 million devices sold a year is nothing to sniff at, and a market still seen as worth pursuing, but they are niche devices.

[binaryhermit]

FWIW, allegedly in 2018 about 1.43 billion smartphones sold worldwide.
And that was slightly down from 2017, allegedly.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile...-decline-news/

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by haertig

Of all my friends, I can't think of one who does not have an eReader. Us friends did not meet through a reading club - we all come from different backgrounds. I can't believe the eReader market is as small as you suggest. Smaller than the cellphone market, sure, but not all that small...

I only know one person who regularly uses an ereader now, there are likely some though who, like myself, have an ereader but never use it anymore so don't count. The one I know who uses one is an author. I knew quite a number of people using them back some years now.

I don't commute on public transport but every couple of weeks I take a train trip into the CBD here which is an hour each way and the majority of passengers are on for the whole distance, so plenty of time for reading, etc. I have not seen anyone using an ereader on that route for several years now and I take an interest in what devices people are using and what for - all phones and tablets ( fewer tablets) being used for all the things they are capable of, including reading, plus pbooks. I would be hard pressed to specifically say when I actually saw anyone using an ereader anywhere at all, it was so far ago I just don't recall.

Of course it could be that there are some people that I see using smartphones for reading while away from home but usually read on an ereader at home, just that a phone is more convenient for them to carry.

One thing I have noticed over the last few years, such as on that train route above but also in cafes, etc., is the big growth in the numbers of elderly people now using smartphones and the variety of uses they are putting them to, including reading.

The last data I have for NZ is nearly 5 years old but at that time over 70% of people had a smartphone for private use and over 50% of people had a tablet for private use. So it is probable that well over 90% have a smartphone now; the number having tablets may have grown significantly (although the bigger smartphones that have become usual will have had some negating influence). I watch stocks of ereaders (and other devices) on retail shelves and talk to retailers here; retail display levels of ereaders comes and goes, often not displayed at all, the retailers tell me they are very slow movers with most purchasers specifically choosing something to read on going for a tablet.

For the sake of the forumite who when I last mentioned some of the above seemed to think it of great importance to school me in how the rest of the world was very different and to also give me marketing lessons, my comments above apply to my own country and I am in no need of marketing lessons, I have already had those in a proper place of learning .

[abbibi]

I'm enjoying the meandering thread!

It really doesn't make financial sense to get into ebooks. They often cost more than the paperback version and can't be resold after you've read them. Ebooks also almost never go on sale, and they can be remotely deleted from your device at the publisher's whim. Then add in the $80-$250 cost for the device itself, and consumers lose interest. And most readers only read one book or magazine at a time, so being able to carry a library with you is seen as a gimmick. Also, a typical paperback fits in a pocket better than most ereaders.

Will color epaper change the current reality? I hate to say it, but color epaper might kill what's left of the dedicated ereader industry. Consumers will expect a color ereader to have most of the functions a tablet has, ensuring they're all running Android/Fire OS. The initial price for color epaper is expected to be on the high side, meaning those tablets will be in the premium price range. Epaper screens are inferior to modern LCD and OLED screens when comparing contrast, color accuracy, and refresh. Their advantages in power-usage and sunlight would need to be successfully exploited and promoted to sell enough of the product.

Without those considerations, I think it will see most of its success in already expensive products like watches, vehicles, and signage.

[Deskisamess]

It really doesn't make financial sense to get into ebooks. They often cost more than the paperback version and can't be resold after you've read them.

Ebooks are worth more to many of us than print books. I can't change the font style/size in a print book. My husband can't read the same copy of a print book at the same. Ebooks allow us to buy or borrow a book, and we can both read it at the same time on our Kindles. My elderly mother can also read any book on my account using the Paperwhite I gave her.

Print books take up space, need to be stored, dusted, packed to move, etc. Print books don't have built in dictionaries and access to wiki. They can't be delivered in a few seconds, even I. The middle of the night.

I can have a few hundred books at my fingertips, in a light weight device. Our Kindles have built in front lights, allowing me to read in any situation, regardless of ambient lighting, from full sun to total darkness.

I had pretty much given up reading for pleasure before I got my first Kindle in 2009. Digital books gave me back my favorite hobby. I can read every day now, and usually do.

Kindle books are, in my experience, almost always the same price or lower than a new print version. Cost isn't really a deciding factor for me, I won't buy a print book if it costs less, I can't easily read them. Many of the books I "buy" are free, or low cost, because I track the sales. I can even borrow a book from my public library on my Kindles, without leaving my house.

I typically have 3-5 books going at the same time. All at my fingertips in my Kindles or with the Kindle app on my iDevices.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I can have a few hundred books at my fingertips, in a light weight device. Our Kindles have built in front lights, allowing me to read in any situation, regardless of ambient lighting, from full sun to total darkness.

I had pretty much given up reading for pleasure before I got my first Kindle in 2009. Digital books gave me back my favorite hobby. I can read every day now, and usually do.

THIS. The ebooks I buy are never dearer than the paperbacks, but it's the convenience and ease of reading that has been the winner for me ever since getting my first Kindle somewhere around 2010-2012. Being able to afford to jump up to a bigger screen (and bigger storage) for basically the same size and weight as my PW3 when I got my H2O2 only enhanced all the pluses about having an ereader for me.

[James Bryant]

You only read one book at a time, but if you travel and read fast you may need quite a few books for the trip (I speak as one who was in ~40 counties each year for most of my working life). And sometime you want to look something up but don't know that in advance.

And while Kindle can erase your books without asking, dedicated Android readers can't.

I've wanted to carry all my books wherever I go since I read James H Schmitz' novella "Novice" (Heroine had pocket portable library) when it was published in 1962. Didn't think it could happen in my lifetime then, delighted when I got my first primitive reader in 1997.

[Deskisamess]

Amazon removed one book from users, one time, back in 2007 or 2008. They also gave those users money, and promised to never do it again.

The book in question was illegally sold by someone who didn't have the legal right to do so. I've never heard of it happening again, by Amazon or anyone else, since then.

[Apache]

Good luck trying to delete my books. They are stripped of DRM and backed up on multiple devices.
I too used to travel for a living. Unfortunately it was before eBooks. How I would have loved to have them available.
I find most eBooks are cheaper than paper books.
And I don't know anyone that was able to even remotely recoup the cost of paper books when selling them.
Apache

[Deskisamess]

And I don't know anyone that was able to even remotely recoup the cost of paper books when selling them.

The last time we ran a garage sale, we couldn't give books away, and we haven't had a decent used book store since the 90's.

[James Bryant]

I have heard, but have not verified, that Amazon also emptied the Kindle of a Norwegian who worked and bought books in the USA for several years and then returned home. They are said to have maintained that she had bought American rights, not Norwegian ones.

If I could buy a good eBook reader without any communications I should do so.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by James Bryant

I have heard, but have not verified, that Amazon also emptied the Kindle of a Norwegian who worked and bought books in the USA for several years and then returned home. They are said to have maintained that she had bought American rights, not Norwegian ones.

If I could buy a good eBook reader without any communications I should do so.

Amazon has methods for dealing with such things. What you "heard" isn't the truth of the issue. It's called Account Migration, and isn't uncommon for people who relocate.