Skip to main content

Will that be a paperback or ebook Madam / Sir?

The publishing industry is at the crossroads. Not only affected by the GFC, it is trying to come to grips with the phenomenon of ebooks. Apple [with its iPad and iPhone] Amazon [with its Kindle] and Barnes & Noble [with its Nook] are just 3 ebooks companies which are out there trying to wrest the publishing industry from conventional publishing houses.

Amazon has just released a new lower-priced Kindle. The effect of all this activity is the subject of a piece "Can Amazon turn ebooks mainstream?" in The Guardian:

"Anyone unlucky enough to commute will know that dead tree media still rule the roost, as least on the nation's public transport. But ebook readers, including the odd iPad, are starting to creep in, along with mobiles, games consoles and even DVD players on long journeys.

There's a deep-seated resistance to digital versions of a centuries old traditional of printed books, which have rightly enchanted, educated and enlightened readers since movable type. So what will it take for ebooks to become mainstream?

There are dozens of ebook readers on the market, all largely comparable in size and offering from the lesser know Astak, Kobo and Alex readers to the Kindle, Nook and Apple iPad. Amazon's launch today of a smaller, cheaper Kindle is significant for two reasons: firstly, it pushes arguably the most popular ebook reader towards a more mainstream audience by making it more affordable."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Palestinian children in irons. UK to investigate

Not for the first time does MPS wonder what sort of country it is when Israel so flagrently allows what can only be described as barbaric and inhuman behaviour to be undertaken by, amongst others, its IDF. No one has seemingly challenged Israel's actions. However, perhaps it's gone a bridge too far - as The Independent reports. The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons. In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wow!.....some "visitor" to Ferryland in Newfoundland

Post a Comment
Read more