Rubbish! Anyone who downloads an eBook to an iPod or iPhone or any such device may do so as a novelty, but if you really read books, you'll find the device a nightmare to read an entire novel on. Maybe for blogs or newspapers, it will be fine, but for a novel? No way:

1) Readability - reading a blog or website on an iPhone is fine, but reading an entire novel would be the ultimate exercise in tediom. The Amazon Kindle, iRex Iliad, and Sony Reader read like paper. It is the holy grail of readability for all people who refuse to read novels on a computer screen or PDA screen.

2) Battery Life - iPod/Phone users would prefer to preserve their battery for the other things that iPods/Phones do better - e.g., video, audio, etc. Because the Kindle, Iliad and Sony Reader all use electronic ink (www.eink.com) , it is a low power display. The batteries last forever.

3) Selection - eBooks may go on the iTunes store, but it's unlikely they'll ever have the same selection as Amazon. Amazon is THE online book channel. It is where true readers already go, so the inertia is huge. It also has pre-loaded selection ready to go. It also has the tools that people are used to using for selecting and purchasing their reading material.

Posted by TG on August 29, 2008 at 05:14 AM MDT #