Was it Claire who said that an important part of the book "experience" was the feel, smell etc?
Problem solved! http://smellofbooks.com/
- sezflom
Stanford Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo suggests that kids don't like single-function devices which is why they don't wear a wrist watch.
Image © RSA Animate.
Our discussion on E-books touched on many small, user concerns that were limiting uptake: backlighting that doesn't tire the eyes, that "book feel", highlighting/ note-taking capability etc. The latest advancement is page numbers (H/T Lifehacker). Users love improvements to a product they already own (particularly with the ease of downloading a softward update), but could the piecemeal nature of these advancements actually preclude momentum? Compare Kindle's software updates to the Steve Job's approach of dramatically unveiling a new product that solves all the problems with the previous model and caters to those needs-you-didn't-even-know-you-had. Jobs certainly gets more press coverage...
- sezflom
Gulliver, The Economist's business travel blog, presents The Kindle Conundrum: another downside to e-books...
"It is the Kindle conundrum that really drives me dilly. My Kindle poses no greater danger to the flight while switched on than does the phone that I may have forgotten to switch off. Nor does reading it put me at any greater risk of failing to heed a "brace" command than would the reading of a gripping book. Yet the book is allowed while the Kindle is banned because it is an electronic device. And little will likely be done to solve the Kindle conundrum because the people affected are disempowered when it comes to making the rules, while the rulemakers have little incentive to make them less annoying. For no good reason, it seems as though the ban will persist for years."
- sezflom
eBooks/eDocs and/or devices are not ready for the education market yet. Amazon conducted Kindle DX trials at Darden B-school (U. of Virginia), Princeton and a number of other U.S. universities. The general conclusion was that while it is a good device for general reading, it was not ready for education because its not easy to highlight, annotate etc. or go to a particular page (since there are no true page numbers).
Meanwhile Swiss B-school IMD is giving the iPad a try and while its likely to have some of the same shortcomings as the Kindle, it appears to be a better tool for facilitating networking in the classroom and for accessing real time information. One of the motives for going digital is to reduce paper use and associated printing/shipping costs.
Clearly the education segment is not going to drive eBook adoption … and if the 'specialist segment' is large enough and distinct enough there could be different devices for different segments … but not soon. Cambridge, U.K. based company Plastic Logic developed a super-sleek device for the business segment called Que … one that would replace not just books but the entire briefcase ... and then changed its mind in August last year. Now its focussing on next generation foldable plastic displays.