Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
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Killed
The Chicken, the Egg, and the Killer App
Chickens and eggs: No one will buy a dedicated eBook reading device if there is nothing to read on it. Conversely, eBook titles won't become widely available until people own eBook devices on which they want to read. This problem could resolve itself as the eBook industry and its patrons inch up the ladder - titles slowly becoming more available while hardware gets incrementally better, until finally, in a decade or two, we have an active eBook market. Most of us hope things will happen more quickly - what's needed is a revolution, not passive acceptance of a perpetual niche market. The best revolutions start at the grass-roots, so I decided that if people weren't coming to eBooks, I'd bring eBooks to them.
I presented the group with a Compaq iPaq PDA with Microsoft Reader, a Dell Laptop with Adobe eBook reader, and a REB 1200 eBook. Despite their eBook virginity, the group didn't need an eReading pitch from me - they get it: carry several books without the bulk, search functionality, hypertext, backlit screen, multimedia, save a tree, cheaper books.
...The laptop was immediately eliminated as a desirable reading device.
...The iPaq fared better. Its versatility assuages the concern that money is going into a "gadget" that children will laugh at next year. Unfortunately it has the same display problems, and its small - reading on it feels like you're staring a box of raisins. PDA's are important to eBook industry - millions use them as a convenient eReading tool and millions more are exposed to the benefits of eReading. But they are a "bridge", not a destination. Many that use them for reading do so not because it's their first choice, but because demand for eReading is real, and there are few alternatives.
Maybe a PDA with a display area the size of a paperback? Getting warmer - my group... (read the complete article).

posted by Jerry permanent link