The book may be dying, but these devices ain't pullin the trigger...
I still stand by my prediction that these e-readers won’t catch on, beyond the early adopter levels. They're too low-tech. However, I do think that in the near future, someone (probably Apple) will no doubt soon release a tablet to beat all tablets (I’ll probably camp out overnight again like I did for my iPhone). The trick with these things, much like The Guardian has recently proved with its iPhone app, is it’s all about the user interface.
For the reproduction of both books and newspapers on electronic devices, the key for designers is to not re-create the same interface that the reader has with paper. That is impossible. Paper feels too good. It’s too tactile, too romantic. Instead the only way to beat paper is to make the interface more fun, more interactive. Readers need to prefer digital to paper. Environmental concerns won’t cut it here.
I blogged about it at (see link below) earlier today. I don't think any of these devices will become at all mainstream, but I do believe that an all singing, all dancing device will replace paper eventually.
It's just got to be more interesting than paper, not try to replicate it. The doodle feature is a step in the right direction, but too small a step at that...
http://www.chameleonpr.com/2009/12/17/the-newspaper-is-dead-long-live-the-news/
Biting the hand that feeds IT
