Great Expectations for E Readers
By Ann-Margaret Tomocik
Monday 28th September 2009
Monday 28th September 2009
In the coming years, e-readers are likely to become mainstreamed due to their many practical assets, yet this does little to quell personal feelings of nostalgia toward traditional publications.
Before the days of iPods, Wii consoles and Blue-ray—in the venerable year 2000— senior analyst at Forrester Research made a prediction regarding the future of digital books. Daniel P. O’Brien claimed, “Publishers are expecting trade e-book sales that won’t materialise—the drawbacks of reading onscreen will discourage all but the most motivated readers.” But nearly ten years later, O’Brien’s words hardly ring true. Amazon’s first-generation Kindle, released in the US in late 2007, sold out within five-and-a-half hours. Despite rapid sales, Kindle was still relatively obscure in 2007; but with the 2009 releases of Kindle 2, Kindle for iPhone and Kindle DX, the drawbacks of onscreen reading appear more trivial than discouraging. Amazon’s mighty marketing tactics have mainstreamed the world of digital publications, an arena Kindle shares with Sony Readers and a slew of foreign competitors. So far Japan has emerged as the trailblazer. The ubiquity of mobile phones in Japan—dubbed “keitai culture”—has spawned the development of increasingly complex mobile devices. While the idea of a mobile/magazine/book/sketchpad may seem futuristic to Westerners, such contraptions have already taken off in Japan. E-readers capable of displaying 260,000 colours are also up for grabs, although buyers are hesitant to part with ¥94,910 (roughly the equivalent of £604) for jazzed up e-ink. Released in April 2009 as the Flepia, this e-reader doesn’t appear too consumer-friendly; its success has been hampered by an outmoded stylus and a lengthy 1.8-second refresh time. Meanwhile the Netherlands’ iRex firm, France’s Orange telecoms provider and Sony have all dabbled in the budding business of digital reading, aiming to provide newspaper subscriptions through e-readers. Newspaper editors herald a possible revolution in journalism with both enthusiasm and desperation, hoping to revive the dying newspaper industry by appealing to consumers’ technological savviness. Indeed times do seem optimal for an increase in digital publishing. Those burdened by the recession will find that after purchasing approximately 20 to 30 books e-readers start paying dividends as savings accrue. Students may additionally rejoice at the prospect of carrying around a single mechanism the size of a paperback book rather than balancing leaning stacks of hardcovers. But no matter how highly touted, the digitalisation of books certainly isn’t exempt from its own series of repercussions. Imagining a world in which Waterstone’s is nonexistent, libraries are archaic and cherished books must subsist in a digital vacuum can be disheartening. A practice that has been employed for centuries, the connotative image of a simple collection of bound pages, has no doubt been rooted in a global psyche that recoils at the possibility of its extinction. Digitalising books may be useful in preserving Europe’s fading trove of antiquated library books, many of which are destroyed each year by old age, but preserving the past and challenging the future are two different items entirely. Whether it be for better or for worse, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger’s recent prediction might just prove true: An “iPod moment” may indeed be drawing near for digital publications.
Before the days of iPods, Wii consoles and Blue-ray—in the venerable year 2000— senior analyst at Forrester Research made a prediction regarding the future of digital books. Daniel P. O’Brien claimed, “Publishers are expecting trade e-book sales that won’t materialise—the drawbacks of reading onscreen will discourage all but the most motivated readers.” But nearly ten years later, O’Brien’s words hardly ring true. Amazon’s first-generation Kindle, released in the US in late 2007, sold out within five-and-a-half hours. Despite rapid sales, Kindle was still relatively obscure in 2007; but with the 2009 releases of Kindle 2, Kindle for iPhone and Kindle DX, the drawbacks of onscreen reading appear more trivial than discouraging. Amazon’s mighty marketing tactics have mainstreamed the world of digital publications, an arena Kindle shares with Sony Readers and a slew of foreign competitors. So far Japan has emerged as the trailblazer. The ubiquity of mobile phones in Japan—dubbed “keitai culture”—has spawned the development of increasingly complex mobile devices. While the idea of a mobile/magazine/book/sketchpad may seem futuristic to Westerners, such contraptions have already taken off in Japan. E-readers capable of displaying 260,000 colours are also up for grabs, although buyers are hesitant to part with ¥94,910 (roughly the equivalent of £604) for jazzed up e-ink. Released in April 2009 as the Flepia, this e-reader doesn’t appear too consumer-friendly; its success has been hampered by an outmoded stylus and a lengthy 1.8-second refresh time. Meanwhile the Netherlands’ iRex firm, France’s Orange telecoms provider and Sony have all dabbled in the budding business of digital reading, aiming to provide newspaper subscriptions through e-readers. Newspaper editors herald a possible revolution in journalism with both enthusiasm and desperation, hoping to revive the dying newspaper industry by appealing to consumers’ technological savviness. Indeed times do seem optimal for an increase in digital publishing. Those burdened by the recession will find that after purchasing approximately 20 to 30 books e-readers start paying dividends as savings accrue. Students may additionally rejoice at the prospect of carrying around a single mechanism the size of a paperback book rather than balancing leaning stacks of hardcovers. But no matter how highly touted, the digitalisation of books certainly isn’t exempt from its own series of repercussions. Imagining a world in which Waterstone’s is nonexistent, libraries are archaic and cherished books must subsist in a digital vacuum can be disheartening. A practice that has been employed for centuries, the connotative image of a simple collection of bound pages, has no doubt been rooted in a global psyche that recoils at the possibility of its extinction. Digitalising books may be useful in preserving Europe’s fading trove of antiquated library books, many of which are destroyed each year by old age, but preserving the past and challenging the future are two different items entirely. Whether it be for better or for worse, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger’s recent prediction might just prove true: An “iPod moment” may indeed be drawing near for digital publications.
