The problem with the e-reader explosion

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By Steven W. Beattie
January 11, 2010
1:50 PM

Filed under: Quillblog, E-Readers, Kindle, Nook

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The glut of e-readers heading to market is liable to result in significant casualties – on the part of both buyers and manufacturers – when all is said and done, according to an article in the Silicone Alley Insider (reprinted from Gizmodo). Reporting on the number of Kindle and Nook knock-offs that cropped up at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which wrapped up yesterday in Las Vegas, Wilson Rothman writes that the people who end up satisfied with their e-readers will be those who purchase a unit sold through a store they already buy books from (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) or those who buy a cheap, disposable reader with a wide range of file compatibilities, then end up pirating the books they want to read from torrent sites. Other purchasers will find to their chagrin that their new readers are incompatible with various digital rights management platforms that publishers insist on, or that they can’t import files from a Kindle or a Nook.

The innovation that made the flood of e-readers possible – the introduction of e-ink – is itself responsible for the current situation, writes Rothman:

But the introduction of e-ink-based readers by many big tech companies and a handful of feisty little ones threatens to sow confusion in the market place, encourage piracy, and screw over any company who gets in and then can’t really hack it against Kindle and Nook. And all of it will be a pointless exercise when long-lasting slates are a reality.

E-ink is an interim technology, a stopgap measure to keep our attention till we have full-color video tablets (slates?) whose batteries last for “days.” A flood in the market might ensure that everyone buys one by this coming Christmas, but it’ll become increasingly hard to distinguish the good from the bad, will emphasize cheap devices over quality of interface and service, and will render most people completely confused and off-put.

Whereas the Kindle vs. Nook showdown was once positioned as the VHS vs. Betamax of the e-reader technology, it now appears that a different comparison is more appropriate. Rothman points out that the number of imitation e-readers currently appearing in the marketplace more closely resemble the dozens of MP3 players that cropped up to compete with the iPod. And what happened to all of those, again?

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http://www.blork.org/blorkblog Ed Hawco

Hmm. I think this article is overly dismissive of the new flock of e-readers that have shown up in the past week (being launched at the Consumer Electronics Show). I’ve tried a first generation Kindle and a first generation Sony reader and I didn’t like them at all. The displays were too small, the refresh rate was awful, and the buttons were just in the way. When I look at some of the ones that have come on board this week I think “now we’re finally getting somewhere.” The screens are larger and clearer, there’s less real estate wasted on rarely used buttons and keyboards, and they seem much more user friendly overall.

Making the comparison with MP3 players is unfair. In fact, the truth is more towards the reverse; it’s as if the Kindle were the crappy MP3 player and the new readers are the iPods.

Kindle has the advantage of being there first, and it has Amazon behind it. That’s huge. But the new readers are an order of magnitude better, especially the ones with the really big screens (like the large Kindle) that are designed for reading magazines and newspapers.
Tim Patterson

This article is exactly right — “E-ink is an interim technology, a stopgap measure.”

Most consumers know e-readers are far too pricey for what they do. The market demand (across the board) for real portable internet access with the functionality of a proper computer (not just a blackberry or iphone) means current e-readers are just the appetizer. Kindle’s heavy DRM is undermining their consumer loyalty, and it will only get tougher for Amazon, Sony, and others to make their e-readers as attractive as laptops/netbooks/tablets that merely carry e-reader software. In the short-term, an Apple tablet may or may not make that apparent. But tablet netbooks from Lenovo, EeePC, and others are also setting trends for portable e-reading possibilities. It seems to me that ebook reading is going to follow the changing face of personal computers… and not the other way around.
maxim011

Just spent a week at a resort. Thousands reading books on the beach and by the pool and not one e-reader to be found.
http://www.timesplash.co.uk Graham Storrs

Maximo11 is right, ereader market penetration is minimal at the moment. There may have been five million units sold in total worldwide, into a reading population of billions. Even in the USA and Europe there can’t be one in a hundred readers with an ereader.

The comparison with MP3 players is very, very premature, and we are nowhere near the point where an iPod equivalent might appear. (Besides, I’ve been a faithful Creative Zen user for a long time now and will be until iPods are equally good value for money.) Perhaps we’re more in the position we were in with desktop computers in the mid-to-late 70s – many models, many, incompatible formats, low market penetration, high prices – until the iPod of its day came along (the IBM PC) and changed everything.
Mags

Some of the “cheap knock-offs of Kindle and Nook” are later iterations of devices that were available long before either of those devices. And those of us who use them simply like variety, are comfortable with the tech, and have no need to pirate. Most of the ebooks I read are free, legal, public domain classics. And ADE works fine on both of my “cheap knock-off” devices.
http://www.allthingsd.com Christine

Walt Mossberg just published his review of Sony’s e-reader, with many comparisons to the Kindle:

Sony’s E-Reader Opens New Chapter in Kindle Rivalry
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100113/sonys-e-reader-opens-new-chapter-in-kindle-rivalry/

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