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Technology news and Jobs 
Our Blogs ShrinkAge Finally - the year of the e-book?
Our Blogs ShrinkAge Finally - the year of the e-book? | Finally - the year of the e-book? |
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| ShrinkAge - personal and global mobility | |
| by Charles Wright | |
| Wednesday, 19 December 2007 | |
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Page 1 of 3   
the iLiad e-book reader as the first rumble in a tectonic (should that be techtonic?) shift in the marketplace - one that will make 2007, in retrospect, the year of the electronic book. The simple numbers are scarcely impressive. The total stock was a mere 50, but these devices cost $899 each, and Dymocks says it has orders for most of the second 50, due to arrive shortly. The fact that Dymocks has moved stock at that price, and has made a substantial commitment to electronic books and will be displaying and pushing them in its Sydney store is enough to convince me that as the price comes down, they will take a substantial share of the market. Stan Beer disagrees, but I've experienced the sheer convenience of downloading current titles for less than you'd pay if you had the time to browse a bookshop. And while I'm yet to trial the iLiad, I'd be prepared to bet that it's a pleasure to read with. It wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong about e-books. It's seven years since I coughed up $500 for my first e-book reader - the Rocket eBook - and immediately predicted that it was about to become a compelling force. I was wrong in 2000, and I've been wrong every year since then. Over those years, the Rocket eBook has continued to be a working joy that enriches the experience of reading. Too bad you can't buy any new titles for it. In our defence, the reason for the continued triumph of Gutenberg's ancient technology has much more to do with mismanagement and sheer hubris than with the concept of books on the screen. In the hubris department, the name Henry C. Yuen will live in infamy. Henry was chief executive of a compan called Gemstar when he formulated the idea that he could corner the market in electronic reading. The business plan unfolded like this: first he took over the company that made the Rocket eBook, NuvoMedia, and its chief competitor, SoftBook. Then, instead of improving, or at least maintaining their already proven utility, he stripped out all the bits that had made it attractive to the first generation of eBook enthusiasts. The Rocket eBook's replacement, the REB 1100, featured less memory, a lower-contrast LCD screen and a higher price tag than its predecessor. it also lost a considerable degree of utility. Henry completely ditched RocketWriter - a piece of software that allowed users to convert Web pages and personal documents for their expensive devices. He deleted the free library of e-books that might have attracted potential buyers, and tried to funnel all sales through Gemstar's website. He ensured the site would lose its attraction to the community of users that had largely driven the demand for e-books by stripping it of unbiased comment and turning it into a bland puff gallery for Gemstar. |
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