Word has it that eReaders will open the next chapter

[yagiz]

Word has it that eReaders will open the next chapter

Microsoft and Apple are about to follow the tablet trend

TRAVELLING between airports has given analyst Jon Peddie lots of time to study tech trends. There was the rise of the mobile, laptops, the iPod, the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Now Peddie, who runs California-based Jon Peddie Research, sees another change coming: the rise of the eReader.

Laptops are becoming less popular, he reckons, and even netbooks are fading. The new must-have is an eReader.

Smaller than a laptop, bigger than a BlackBerry, electronic readers are the hot new category for electronics manufacturers. They don’t offer all the computing power of a netbook or laptop but are more portable, convenient and can be used to read books, magazines, reports or e-mails on the move.

So far, eReaders have been sold largely as a new way to read but they can also hold documents and presentations and receive e-mails.

E-mails? Really?!?

[Penforhire]

I'd say e-readers are a stop-gap technology. If netbook screens ever get e-ink-like reading quality it will at least diminish the eReader market, especially in tablet-PC form IMO. If I travel and have to drag a netbook with me anyway then why add an eReader if the netbook had as good a screen with only slightly more mass? Today I still take the eReader with me for its better display and convenient form.

[davidspitzer]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I'd say e-readers are a stop-gap technology. If netbook screens ever get e-ink-like reading quality it will at least diminish the eReader market, especially in tablet-PC form IMO. If I travel and have to drag a netbook with me anyway then why add an eReader if the netbook had as good a screen with only slightly more mass? Today I still take the eReader with me for its better display and convenient form.

I tend to disagree with this premise. I believe there is a lot of anecdotal evidence which seems to indicate that most consumers prefer a focused device that accomplishes its primary mission better than any other device, and then adds additional value through the introduction of incedental features. Take the ipod – you can listen to music on your laptop, why do you need an iPod? The answer lies in from factor and features.
Laptops and netbooks , even if the screen issue is addressed still suffer from several fatal flaws in ergonomics

Weight - netbooks and laptops weigh too much

Battery life – dismally low compared to an ebook reader – unless you add huge slab batteries which compound the weight issue

Complexity – I have $3000 motion tablet which seems like the dream reading device - but it is too heavy and the battery life too short but the main reason is Windows itself (or any full operating system) – with its long boot time and occasional crash, makes it an unpleasant and mainly inconvenient reading experience – I can carry my ebook reader with me wherever I go and have it instantly turn on and off and my command - I could not imagine lugging my tablet around for reading, waiting for it to boot or maybe come out of suspend which seems to be at best a hit and miss affair.

Ebook readers, in my opinion, are here to stay but they will go through evolutions much like the ipod did, which also started monochrome and is now is in full color with touchscreens and additional functionality

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I'd say e-readers are a stop-gap technology. If netbook screens ever get e-ink-like reading quality it will at least diminish the eReader market, especially in tablet-PC form IMO. If I travel and have to drag a netbook with me anyway then why add an eReader if the netbook had as good a screen with only slightly more mass? Today I still take the eReader with me for its better display and convenient form.

It's all about perspective though, you mention having to drag a netbook with you when you travel, well when I travel with work I will always need to take a proper laptop with me and as such the form factor of my 505 is the perfect complement to it and it is not competing for bagspace against a bigger and heavier netbook, it is competing against the paperback book I would otherwise be carrying.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I'd say e-readers are a stop-gap technology.

Depends on what your purpose is. For business travel, sure, a netbook (or maybe even a laptop?) could serve the same purpose with the right kind of screen. But the non-traveling reader will still be interested in a dedicated device.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by davidspitzer

I tend to disagree with this premise. I believe there is a lot of anecdotal evidence which seems to indicate that most consumers prefer a focused device that accomplishes its primary mission better than any other device, and then adds additional value through the introduction of incedental features. Take the ipod – you can listen to music on your laptop, why do you need an iPod? The answer lies in from factor and features.

Laptops and netbooks , even if the screen issue is addressed still suffer from several fatal flaws in ergonomics

Weight - netbooks and laptops weigh too much

Battery life – dismally low compared to an ebook reader – unless you add huge slab batteries which compound the weight issue

Complexity – I have $3000 motion tablet which seems like the dream reading device - but it is too heavy and the battery life too short but the main reason is Windows itself (or any full operating system) – with its long boot time and occasional crash, makes it an unpleasant and mainly inconvenient reading experience – I can carry my ebook reader with me wherever I go and have it instantly turn on and off and my command - I could not imagine lugging my tablet around for reading, waiting for it to boot or maybe come out of suspend which seems to be at best a hit and miss affair.

Ebook readers, in my opinion, are here to stay but they will go through evolutions much like the ipod did, which also started monochrome and is now is in full color with touchscreens and additional functionality

The iPod, or at least one incarnation of it, became a PDA. Which is just fine since PDAs can play music too and can be fairly small. The thing is when you keep adding features eventually you're going to cross a border between product categories. Say you take the current 5-6" form factor reader and add full color, high refresh rate eInk (or perhaps one of the other ultra-low-power, high contrast reflective displays in development) and WiFi. Is this device an ebook reader with web capability or an internet tablet that you can also read on?

Anyways, there are different form factors for ebook readers. A tablet-PC style netbook obviously couldn't substitute the 5-6" models, but might potentially fill in for 9.7" and larger versions. Especially as technology evolves. Already there are chipsets in development that will offer the same or better performance as current netbooks but use significantly less power and run cooler. And new screen technologies might not only save power directly, but also by letting other components enter a low power state when not needed (similar to what most eInk-based ebook readers do now). The batteries themselves will get better too. Becoming both lighter and more efficient.

Instant booting is probably a long way off for any complicated computing devices... most ebook readers get around the problem by never really turning off. Though I've rarely had a problem with sleep mode or even hibernation. Also there are heavily optimized Linux distributions you could dual boot.

[dmaul1114]

I'm on record repeatedly as wanting a tablet device. I agree with some of the disadvantages outlined above--but those really only matter for people who are reading hours a day, carrying their e-reader everywhere they go etc.

Weight, eye strain, battery life etc. aren't as big of an issue for me since I seldom read for more than an hour or two, and mostly either in the office or at home.

I'd keep my K1 around for leisure reading, but I'd love a 9 or 10" tablet (think a large iPhone) with a good stylus for taking notes, annotating books/articles (crucial for someone like me who works in academia), etc. as well as full featured web browsing, e-mail, pda functions, games, videos etc.

I don't really need a laptop or netbook with me (already have one), I'd much prefer something a bit smaller and ligher and easier to hold to read and take notes with stylus which a 9 or 10" tablet would be once the technology would be there.

So it's not really a replacement for a laptop or e-reader but just a new device I'd carry around in place of my Kindle, laptop, PDA, etc. while my Kindle and Laptop mainly stay at home.

And if it worked great for reading and annotating, it could get me to make the e-switch for academic books, journal articles etc which I'm still sticking with paper as annotating on e-readers sucks vs. just writing on paper versions. Make it super easy to write on the e-versions on a tablet and I'd be a happy camper.