1. The readability E Ink far outstrips that of LCDs

2. I have a plain old RAZR phone my employer pays for, I have no need for a “smartphone” or it’s associated ~$100 a month bill.

3. I would rather have a dedicated device that does one thing really well than a single device that does everything fair to middling. Also, one device – one battery, better stay close to a spot where you can plug a charger in. My reader will go two weeks between charges even with daily use, I have yet to see a phone pull that off.

4. What’s the fuss about carrying two small devices? No pockets on your “skinny” jeans? Carrying a flip phone and an MP3 player isn’t exactly a heavy burden. If a person can’t find a way to manage having two small devices on their person I think perhaps they have larger issues than their choice of digital gadgets.

They say that “the primary thing a book has to do is fulfill its promise as a transmitter/inspirer of ideas, art, thoughts, story, entertainment.”

That leaves a lot of room for maintenance of the current and iteration of the new.

Best,

Mark

My thesis is that whereas Kindle and iRex seem to be predicated on the construct of the book as less than the current experience (i.e., mostly text), the industry is headed for a full-blown re-boot that takes advantage of interactivity, touch/tilt, social engagement, movies, pictures, animation and sound, a topic that I expound upon in:

Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
http://bit.ly/zOoEu

Check it out, if interested.

Mark

Coincidentally, the main folks I happen across using Kindles are older women. Everyone I’ve talked to love their Kindle. I have no doubt these same women would never read a book on a smartphone, on a netbook, etc. Again, its the holistic experience, with large parts tactical/feel of the e-reader.

As far as college kids using phones for their studies – hmm, I don’t have data on that. Sure, lots will read books on smartphones, but again, most of these younger folks aren’t driving the publishing industry – its the female book buying audience that is.

I would love to see a poll of people of all ages who *must* read for either work or school and find what percentage do so with an e-reader vs. plain old laptop. I suspect e-reader usage is around 1%

To answer your question, I have in fact talked to a handful of kindle owners, all of who are:
1 – Very wealthy, successful people, with copious amounts of disposable income
2 – Total geeks, one of whom has a Nikon D1 as their “junker” camera
3 – None have any prominent requirement in their professional life that requires high volumes of document reading.

Ultimately I cite the rancor around Google Books as being proof that consumers are not the driving force behind e-readers. Book publishers and newspaper are. The world got along just fine curled up in bed with a paper book, or a lap top.

P.S. comment nesting FAIL!

:)

I really don’t care about wireless access from cell phone carrier. I guess it’s important for people who want to subscribe to newspapers. However for myself I just download stuff from my computer. The computer can gran all the documents for me. All I have to is send it to the eReader.

In the end, I don’t buy content. There’s a sea of free content on the web. As for news. I subscribe to my local paper and I like to read it in true paper. Not using eReader. The big width gives me a quick view of everything. on an eReader there will be a lot of scrolling which I don’t like.

Have you talked to a Kindle owner? Most are effusive about the experience. They talk about how its completely changed their reading habits.

BTW – Google/Firefox isn’t a mutually exclusive thing from an e-reader. The context here is the hardware. Most people who use an e-reader are mainly taken with the feel/tactical experience. I think you could do that with a browser on an optimized e-reader hardware device.

Also,

I do not know a single person who carrier both a mobile phone and a MP3 player with them. Do you?

Half of Americans may read novels, but that’s a 100 million plus person market. If you wanted to identify an entertainment consumption behavior that has only yet begun to be impacted by the Internet and mobile computing, reading books is near the top. The e-reader is what changes that.

Ultimately this becomes a discussion of e-readers vs. multipurpose devices for consuming books. People will say the e-reader is unnecessary when you have a netbook, etc. I think there is a market for dedicated function-specific devices like an e-reader, and there will also be a significant market for devices that can optimize a close-enough experience to e-reader (read web-pad). Both categories are going to benefit as the habit of “reading books” transitions significantly to digital in the coming decade.