Is there any reason to update your ereader?
Every year all the makers of ereaders produce new models, but are they actually “new” enough to make it interesting for us to go out and replace our last year’s ereader with this year’s model? I think not.
In the beginning was the Sony ereader:
In the beginning (he said in his best Biblical voice) we had a range of ereaders, which were all quite distinctive in one way or another. A Sony was different to a Kindle and so it went. But as time went by, and more and more people bought ereaders, and the basic technology developed, the dedicated ereaders all began to resemble each other in almost all respects.
From the point of view of one such as I, reviewing the latest ereaders has become a pretty dull business.. they are all so similar really, it is like reviewing portable DVD players…..
We 
now have the situation in which I think that there is not really any room for serious development for the dedicated ereader. After all, they all function beautifully and fulfill their basic requirement (enabling us to read ebooks comfortably) pretty well perfectly.
Sure, some might wish to have beautiful colour screens, which we now almost have, and a faster start up, but that is about it really on the hardware side. So I feel that in about another six months or so, once full colour e-Ink type screens are available, we will reach the end of the hardware development of the dedicated ereader.
New Firmware for ereaders… But is it relevant?
I am equally sure that the makers of dedicated ereaders will try and find useful, or at least useful sounding new software tricks to give us the idea that the latest ereader is worth trading our older models in for, but really I don’t see this as a really useful thing. I know people who are still perfectly happy using ereaders they purchased years ago..
How many of you are still perfectly happy with your old Sony 505, or Kindle1 out there? Lots of you I reckon.
Dedicated ereaders or tablets?
I have written on this before, and the reaction was always a load of comments or emails telling me that people wanted to be able to write notes, add images, see videos, check and write emails, communicate with others and all manner of other tricks with their ereaders, but what all of these people were talking about was not really reading ebooks, but using a fully fledged computer to perform all manner of trick and work that you would normally use a computer for… These are the people who will buy themselves an iPad or Fire or some other tablet to do their reading with. Thus reading ebooks is an incidental function for their device.
So what has happened is that the ereader world has split into two major streams, those who wish to simply read ebooks in comfort, and those who wish to work with ebooks and carry on all manner of other tasks using the one device.
This is bad news for the makers of dedicated ereaders obviously, since those who simply wish to read ebooks, actually have very little reason to upgrade their devices every year, unlike those who want it all in one basket, who want the latest, fastest and most user friendly digital device in order to function as they want to….
So, for Sony, Amazon and all such dedicated ereader makers, their market is really restricted to those who have yet to buy themselves an ereader, those who already have one will probably only replace it when it dies, gets stolen or some similar disaster overcomes them.
For Amazon this isn’t really a problem, as they sell the Kindle as a loss leader, their only interest in the Kindle is as a means of getting people to buy ebooks from them, but this is not really the case with most other dedicated ereader makers out there, they need to sell ereaders to make money, which is the problem for those of us who simply wish to have a basic device in order to read ebooks with, and have no interest or need for all the bells and whistles that tablets and similar offer us.
Share with us:
Am I right? Is the end of the road in sight for the dedicated ereader, or as with portable DVD players, will they continue to be made, but with very few new developments?
Michael Evans:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
You are right, course. The dedicated ereader can go only so far. Once it reaches it’s zenith of functionality, why strive for constant improvements. Bear in mind that the physical book went through several experimental versions (tablets, commandments, scrolls) before ending up as a volume with bound pages. As such, it hasn’t changed much in three or four hundred years. The reason is that there has been no need for serious improvement, kit for fiddling around the edges such as when paperbacks revolutionised the market. The same with dedicated electronic book readers. They will continue to have a role. But the concept of convergence, at the moment epitomised by the iPad, will marginalise the dedicated device.
Paul:
February 26th, 2012 at 3:32 am
The one thing the dedicated ereader hardware can improve on is a bigger e-ink screen, e.g. 8 inches, which is available worldwide (not just in the USA) for a reasonable price. It does not need to be colour.
Tony:
February 27th, 2012 at 10:51 am
@ Paul,
I agree with you here, but a larger screen is still just tinkering with the basic design, not a “new” and useful addition.
As Michael said, we have more or less reached the point when an ereader is simply another basic consumer electronic gadget, and most people simply buy the first one they see in the nearest shop, and go happily on their way…..