1. PRICE: The Nook & Kindle are each about the cost of 12 hardcover books. For a tech guy like you, that may seem like a lot; for someone who buys a lot of books (like my wife), not so much.
2. BACKLIGHTING: e-ink is easier on the eyes than backlit screens, causing less eyestrain headaches for people (like my wife) who don't use computers regularly throughout a typical day.
3. HIGHER-REFRESH RATES: Page turns are about as fast as turning the page of a physical book, and will likely be even faster in the next generation. While that may seem annoyingly slow to you as a tech person, it's not as egregious to paper book readers, especially since it's easy enough for readers (did I mention like my wife?) to predict when to instinctively "pre-click"...that is, click the next page button about half-a-second before finishing reading the current page.
All of your arguments about why the Kindle & Nook won't be successful are coming from someone more tech-savvy than the target audience. You apparently already have an iPhone that can download ebooks wherever you go, and you don't mind reading those ebooks on its tiny screen. For the non-tech market who reads a lot (and yes, people who read printed books still exist in surprisingly large numbers), these readers are much more comfortable. And integrated cell-based online shopping makes it a convenient, affordable, portable nirvana.
2. Backlights Maybe it's not important to regular readers like you, but at least it's an surplus for many geeks like me, who during the working day hours DON'T have much time for casual reading---yes that's the only thing ereaders are good at as of now. I will need to keep the entire room light up for some pre-bedtime reading---how lame is that? Hate booklights coz they bring intolerable flare and drains the battery super fast.
"Hate booklights coz they bring intolerable flare and drains the battery super fast. "
Old style incandescent booklights had sucky battery life. The same cannot be said for LED based ones. And flaring can be minimized through proper positioning.
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To address what you think is missing:
1. PRICE: The Nook & Kindle are each about the cost of 12 hardcover books. For a tech guy like you, that may seem like a lot; for someone who buys a lot of books (like my wife), not so much.
2. BACKLIGHTING: e-ink is easier on the eyes than backlit screens, causing less eyestrain headaches for people (like my wife) who don't use computers regularly throughout a typical day.
3. HIGHER-REFRESH RATES: Page turns are about as fast as turning the page of a physical book, and will likely be even faster in the next generation. While that may seem annoyingly slow to you as a tech person, it's not as egregious to paper book readers, especially since it's easy enough for readers (did I mention like my wife?) to predict when to instinctively "pre-click"...that is, click the next page button about half-a-second before finishing reading the current page.
All of your arguments about why the Kindle & Nook won't be successful are coming from someone more tech-savvy than the target audience. You apparently already have an iPhone that can download ebooks wherever you go, and you don't mind reading those ebooks on its tiny screen. For the non-tech market who reads a lot (and yes, people who read printed books still exist in surprisingly large numbers), these readers are much more comfortable. And integrated cell-based online shopping makes it a convenient, affordable, portable nirvana.
2. Backlights
Maybe it's not important to regular readers like you, but at least it's an surplus for many geeks like me, who during the working day hours DON'T have much time for casual reading---yes that's the only thing ereaders are good at as of now. I will need to keep the entire room light up for some pre-bedtime reading---how lame is that? Hate booklights coz they bring intolerable flare and drains the battery super fast.
"Hate booklights coz they bring intolerable flare and drains the battery super fast. "
Old style incandescent booklights had sucky battery life. The same cannot be said for LED based ones. And flaring can be minimized through proper positioning.