| Digital book readers are thought by many to be in | | | | Sony have seen the future and so have Barnes and |
| their infancy, but they have been around long enough | | | | Noble, with their brand new, innovative, ebook reader |
| to make the coming months make or break, for | | | | device the Nook - yes I know but all the good |
| some ebook reader device manufacturers. | | | | names must have been taken up - as they both |
| The competition in the digital book readers market is | | | | support the ePub standard. Some earlier devices, |
| increasing month on month. The next generation of | | | | such as the Bebook, also have ePub format support, |
| ebook readers are starting to hit the stores and are | | | | something that is now starting to play in to their |
| going to set the direction the market takes over the | | | | hands and makes them still relevant to today's |
| next two years. So where is the industry heading, | | | | market and so well worth looking into. |
| which of the current crop will take you there and | | | | Customers, it seems, will no longer tolerate having |
| what can you do to reduce your exposure to this | | | | their personal library tied to one make of reader. |
| rapid change? | | | | They want to shop about for their books online the |
| The predictions are that digital book readers will | | | | same way they do in the high street or mall, they |
| propel sales of digitally downloaded books over the | | | | want to be able to get the best deal, and if a reader |
| next five years. Although the $14 million value of | | | | does not let them do that it will soon become a |
| ebook sales is considered small fry, many leading | | | | dinosaur. |
| industry analysts insist the enthusiasm show by | | | | The word on the "street" is that Apple are on the |
| consumers for green products will eventually lead to | | | | verge of entering this rapidly expanding market, with |
| this sector overtaking the traditional method of | | | | their own ebook reader device, and this could be |
| purchasing. | | | | sooner rather than later. Some say as soon as the |
| This is backed up by the release, over the last few | | | | end of this current year or early 2010, but as yet |
| weeks and months, of a whole host of ebook reader | | | | Apple are silent on the subject. Add to that the |
| devices. Sony, Barnes and Noble and Amazon Kindle | | | | Plastic Logic device set for imminent release plus a |
| have all put out their latest offerings to the public. | | | | Crunch Pad from tech blogger Rich Arrington and you |
| You would have every right to think these models | | | | can see the pressure mounting on the Kindle to |
| are going to take us forward and, to a certain | | | | maintain it's position as "Top Dog". |
| extent, be good for the next few years. | | | | We will have to wait to discover if the models |
| Although you would expect that to be the case, we | | | | mentioned above have support for the ePub file |
| need to look a little bit deeper in to what's happening | | | | format as details are sketchy at the moment, my |
| on the fringes of the ebook reader device market to | | | | guess is they will have to have it or they will regret |
| see this is not necessarily so. | | | | the fact they don't. |
| Brandon Badger, Google Projects manager, recently | | | | So what does all this mean to the digital ebook |
| commented on the blog, Inside Google Books, that | | | | readers purchaser. The first thing is you are not going |
| Google would in the near future offer free digital | | | | to be short of ebook reader devices to choose from' |
| delivery of their one million or so library of public | | | | that's for sure. They will come and go, some will be |
| domain ebooks published in the ePub file format, | | | | good and some bad but as a buyer you need to |
| along with other formats. No great surprise there | | | | choose from those digital ebook readers that support |
| given the companies past history of forward thinking | | | | the new ePub standard. By doing so, you will open up |
| and the influence they hold over open standards. | | | | a wonderful library of ebooks to choose from, both |
| This move signals the future, proprietary formats are | | | | paid for and free, and mark my words, if your |
| dead. The e-publishing standard will be ePub because | | | | chosen ebook reader device doesn't go down the |
| Big "G" says so and this spells bad news for a lot of | | | | ePub route then you're going to be buying one that |
| digital book readers, the new Amazon Kindle included. | | | | does fairly soon after. |