A month ago we wrote a piece (The e-Book Revolution) that claimed that Amazon sold 240,000 kindles. Citigroup has since estimated that number up to 380,000 sold. We debated whether the E-Book in Kindle like formats would be widely used. The numbers are encouraging. This month iRex is going to launch it’s next generation e-reader called Reader 1000. Sony is rumoured to be launching its next generation e-reader in October and a company called Plastic Logic recently demo’ed an e-reader aimed at business users.
Don’t be surprised if all the new readers will sport E-Ink technologies. It is the only way of building a thin, durable device that has extended battery life. It’s rumoured that Amazon’s Kindle will still carry the best price point ($360) by a longshot. Some of the new features we are looking to play with are larger screen sizes and interactive touch screens.
The question still remains, do we want to carry a second or third device? Are these dedicated e-readers that much of an improvement to warrant their purchase? I’ve just downloaded an e-book to my iPhone. Who knew that I was carrying an an e-reader in my pocket all along?
For those interested in a beta trial of reading longer documents (perhaps an e-book) email me suhail@spreedinc.com.
interesting developments. thanks for sharing.