Re: Anyone used one of these?

Ben Shimmin <bas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

zoara <me18@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
Ben Shimmin <bas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jobs said this of the Kindle, a while back:

"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that
people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in
the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is
flawed at the top because people don't read anymore."

Do we think he's right?

Probably, but remove the spin and you see that 60% of people *do* read a
book or more a year. Okay, that's not so much, but I bet there's a
sudden peak in the graph where it goes rapidly from 'I read a bestseller
when I'm on holiday' to 'I actually *like* books'.

I think there are several different brackets. The following, perhaps:

1) People who don't read anything much at all apart from the sports and
celebrity gossip sections of London Lite when they're on the tube.
2) People who read a trashy novel on holiday and nothing else.
3) People who read the latest Dan Brown and Harry Potter, and also
a trashy novel on holiday.
4) People who read a handful of books a year (one every couple of
months).
5) People who read a book or more every month.
6) People who read loads of fiction or non-fiction books, and also
have a wealth of technical reading matter that they need to carry
around with them, and possibly read all three types concurrently.

It strikes me that the first three groups are immensely unlikely
to be interested in an e-book reader. Ever. They just don't read
enough.

The fourth group would take an awful lot of persuading, I think,
because their annual expenditure on books is going to be an awful
lot less than these devices currently cost. If the price were, say,
fifty quid (and perhaps if it did other stuff, like you could plug it
in and prop it up and use it as a digital photo frame thing or
something), they might be vaguely tempted. The advantage of being able
to take an entire library around with you would be lost on these people,
however, since they probably only read one book at a time.

Yeah, I'd fall into group 4, and right now, I can't see a reason for
wanting a £200 gadget to do a £10-20 books job. If they fall down to
book prices maybe, like £20, maybe then I'd be interested.

I like music but the only reason I got an iPod was because of the FM
transmitter add-on [1], suddenly I've got a huge jukebox in any car I go
in, I've had headphones plugged into my iPod about twice [2], and it's a
1st gen mini to give an idea of how long I've had it...

[1] And only once they'd dropped sub £100 which was my break point for
those.
[2] Though If I'd thought about it, I should have made it four when I
went on the train to London last.
--
Jon B
Above email address IS valid.
<http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs.
.

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