Sony's announcement of two e-book readers, the Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition (picture on the left), has caught my attention today. This is tough competition for Amazon's Kindle DX, due the following features of the Reader Touch Edition:
1. Touch screen that comes with a stylus that enables users to highlight and write on the "pages" of an electronic book. This feature is useful for bookworms like me.
2. SD memory card slot. Amazon's Kindle does not come with this feature (it has a 4GB internal flash memory). More memory, the better.
3. Nice design, it is sleek and simple. It looks a lot better than the Amazon Kindle (I don't like the many buttons).
Of course, it also comes to mind that the success of e-book readers is dependent on the accessibility of the e-books. From my brief research, the e-books are only available for purchase via online sites that sells for ~$8.00 per e-book (this is expensive for me!). Sony has also announced that you can load e-books "loaned" from local libraries. I don't clearly understand the mechanics of Sony's, but I see this as an opportunity for different ways the e-books can be sold. Here are some ideas:
1. E-books can be purchased on-loan, meaning it would expire after a certain number of days. After the expiry date, the customer can have the option to extend the validity of the e-book in case he/she has not finished reading it, which comes with a price of course. Expiry dates may vary depending on the length of the book, or on the number of days the book will be loaned. This will make e-books more affordable than the current $8.00 per e-book.
2. Book publishers can give special support for e-books by releasing e-books ahead of the physical book release. Of course, this comes with a special rate.
3. In countries with lower online purchase rates such as the Philippines where I'm from, e-books can be made available in bookstores in the malls. I think tie-ups with bookstores are essential even in other countries.
4. The e-book readers can include a SIM slot for 3G Wi-Fi access. There can be special websites designed for browsing via e-books (most likely these are e-book online stores).
I have this other random idea: What if these e-book readers function as an mp3 player too? I sometimes like to listen to music while I'm reading. Hmm Apple E-Reader? :D
I'd hope this entry has sparked your interest and possibly, for more ideas. Please feel free to comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts. :)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Potential of E-Book Readers
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9 comments:
Funny you should post about this - I just wrote about this gadget for an American client! Haha! -apol
Hi Apol! I want to read what you wrote on the Sony Reader! :p email mo sakin..pwede ba yun? hahaha :D
I saw this on Oprah! It's so cool! Oprah's for the whole environment saving thing--so if we get E-books it'll save trees and stuff. But on the down side I love flipping through book pages, flagging it, high lighting and writing notes on the margins of my books! I dont think i could do that with the sony reader!
Hi Char! Yeah the flipping through the book pages is something an e-book reader can't do! Maybe one day e-book readers would have a 3-D screen so you can virtually flip through the pages. This is an idea!
But the writing notes and on the margins & highlighting can already be done because of the stylus. :)
Yeah, I agree with Char, I still really like reading a "real" book, though e-book readers are great for traveling. I know I've had a few airplane trips where I wished I could lug 5 books at a time!
I have this app on my iPod touch called Classics that has a number of classic books for just $0.99. When you flip the page it makes a sound that replicates the sound of the page flip of a real book. There's also a Kindle for the iPod touch that's designed in a way that's fairly easy to read. My beef with ebooks before was that it's hard to read on a screen.
$8/book for US standards is really not that bad, considering most books retail for at least $12-$14 in paperback. But for the local audience, it is expensive. :)
"4. The e-book readers can include a SIM slot for 3G Wi-Fi access."
Sony will soon be releasing an e-book reader with 3G access called the Reader Daily Edition. 7 inch screen and costs $399 :D
Yo Jarx! I didn't make a full-length review of it, it was one of those one-off projects for a client -- prod description lang siya, you can find it at http://wickedcoolgadgets.blogspot.com :) -apol
Woops sorry it's http://www.wickedcoolgadgets.com :D
thanks Apol for sharing the link! hehe your article is so happy!!
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