Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms
By Michael Gartenberg 
posted Nov 1st 2009 6:10PM
posted Nov 1st 2009 6:10PM
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
There was a raging debate going on last week at Engadget HQ over the role of dedicated ebook readers that spilled over on to the Engadget Show. You can watch the show here, but essentially big boss Joshua Topolsky and Paul Miller feel that the new Barnes and Noble Nook is going to be a hit -- the one machine that gets suburban moms to buy. On the other hand, Nilay Patel, rationally (as he agrees with me) says it's not going to happen and there's no mass market for dedicated ebook readers. I'm going to weigh in and say Nilay is probably right.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not entirely an integration vs. convergence story. I believe there's a market for dedicated devices: cameras have not been displaced by music phones, media players have not been displaced by music phones and ebook readers could serve bibliophiles, especially those who travel a lot. However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device. That's one reason why I think it has been important for Amazon and B&N to get their ebook platform onto as many devices with screens as possible, and why Sony's making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not entirely an integration vs. convergence story. I believe there's a market for dedicated devices: cameras have not been displaced by music phones, media players have not been displaced by music phones and ebook readers could serve bibliophiles, especially those who travel a lot. However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device. That's one reason why I think it has been important for Amazon and B&N to get their ebook platform onto as many devices with screens as possible, and why Sony's making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity.
There's a lot that's right with dedicated ereaders like the Nook and the Kindle, however. Yes, there could be more content available, but retailers are making sure there is enough important content -- bestsellers make a difference. It doesn't matter how good hardware is, if there's nothing to read.
There's also no PC required to use a dedicated ereader, thanks to the integrated wireless, which comes at an invisible cost to the consumers. A user has the ability to get content anywhere. Of course, this is also true on other mobile devices.
Finally, price. I love ebooks and have been reading on the go for years, but ebook pricing has been way too high until recently -- what's the difference between a "hardcover" ebook or a "paperback" one? Amazon understands this and sets prices accordingly low, but neither B&N or Sony seem to get it looking at the prices in their stores.
But fact is, none of these things are going to drive Nook sales or any other sales to the suburban mom. There's still far too much missing before ereaders become mainstream.
1. First, ereaders need to be cheaper. The current ereader price points are just way too high for devices that fundamentally only do one thing. Who on earth is going to use a Nook as an MP3 player? Sure, the Nook is great for users who travel a lot, buy a lot of books, hate carrying paper, and have a lot of discretionary income. So is the Kindle. For the mass market, however, prices have got to come way down. Suburban moms are on a budget these days.
Reading is a function that's going to get subsumed into more general purpose devices. |
2. Backlighting. Yes, I know electronic ink tech doesn't lend itself well to backlighting. One of the big advantages of epaper is not needing ambient light for reading, but backlighting is important in places like bedrooms and airplanes. One more reason why I'll more likely read an ebook on an iPhone or PC than a Kindle or Nook.
3. Higher refresh rates. Electronic ink has gotten a lot faster since my first Sony Librie, but it's still not good enough and I continue to find the pageturn flash distracting. So will most mainstream users.
The Kindle and the Nook are cool. They fill a need, and if ebooks help encourage people to read more, even better. But there's difference between functionality and something that's deserving of a dedicated device, and ebook reading is a function that's going to get subsumed into other more general purpose devices. If you think your current laptop or phone isn't up to the experience, well, the next generation is around the corner. How would you feel about reading on the mythical Apple Tablet or Microsoft Courier? In the long run, that's where the mass market will be captured. Sorry, Joshua, mom's going to go to Barnes & Noble, perhaps smile at the Nook, and then buy her paperback book and get back in the minivan... at least for now.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net, and he can be emailed at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
Kindle is beter.
cruisin for a trollin arent you?
I don't understand fanboyism... :(
If you had one, and actually read books, you may be able to spell "better" correctly.
Until then, read the article before commenting based on the cover image.
=]
Perhaps you need to read your Kindle more.
I would have to say the kindle is still viable because the B&N nook has CRAZY lag when scrolling through books. It is seriously painful. That is a big one-up for the kindle over the nook. That being said, Amazon must come up with a great new kindle in order to remain competitive.
Really, kindle fanboys? That's weird.
Now, one thing I know for sure is that my Cuisinart toaster is the best! Take that KitchenAid fanboys!
Barnes and Noble nook
Amazon Crannie
A phone, by and larger, does one thing for most people. Some of them cost more than any ebook.
They are correct -- this is a device marketed to the moms. I thought about getting one for my wife who is pregnant.
I love the dedicated e-book reader vs reader apps on other devices.
For me, it's the screen. E-Ink just makes sense with books... battery life in page turns. When I read a book, it's often sporadic, so I don't want to have to charge a reader the next time I want to read it. I want it to be there, on the same page I left it on.
E-Ink is also a lot easier on the eyes than an LCD screen.
I agree, ereaders have always intrigued me because of the eink, I own a few ebooks, but never have finished one, actually I don't read as much as I should in general. I have an iPhone, I have a nice laptop with a big screen, but I can't read a book on either, why would I read when I could watch a movie, or play a game, or surf the web, I want a dedicated e-book reader so that I actually read, and the Nook is the first one that seems to cover all my needs, It has a brilliant color screen, which was always a problem I had with the kindle, while both of their reading surfaces are the same, the buttons on the Kindle were always boring and unexciting looking, the nook looks good, the ability to select books just by choosing the cover makes it more "fun" and more motivating to pick it up and start reading. I know this might sound like a ridiculous reason to want to get a nook, but I am a gadget freak, and having a gadget for reading will make me read more just to play with the toy. Though the real reason I want the nook over the kindle is the ability to take the standard ereader, epub and pdf formats, which the kindle doesn't allow. I already have an iPhone I don't want another walled garden device. So I don't think the nook will only be popular with suburban moms and I definitely think there is a very large potential market for such a device. As a college student I have made the nook the #1 item on my holiday wish list, it costs less than a few textbooks, and has the potential of leading to free textbooks on torrents, and the ones that I can't find for free, I've already found a textbook ebook site that sells them for cheaper than my local student store's used section. (textbooks.com, though some aren't compatible with the nook) So in my mind it will pay for itself, though I am a film major, so things like pictures and charts aren't as important as they may be in science and math courses. So the black and white display is fine, but to get the rest of the college market they need to sell the textbook ebooks on the B&N store, and an eventual nook with color eink screen (Which is inevitable).
I think with this future of all of our digital needs being merged into a single device, will eventually need to be reversed, for many reasons, one product can't cover an entire market, the entire gadget industry would crumble. Software can't do everything, we will continue on this trend of merging all our devices into our cell phones and continuously smaller tablets for a few more years, but for reasons of market diversity, the market will need to shift away from these Jack of all trades master of none devices, and focus on products that excel beyond what these single devices can do. When you merge a phone and a camera, you make sacrifices on quality, and often a very low quality flash if a flash at all. Cell Phones and computers haven't replaced cameras for good reasons, and the same is with these ereader devices the eink is the key to their success, because it is what makes it better than multifunction devices. I also believe these are the only way to save the print industry, again as I stated earlier, my computer and iPhone are too distracting, I can do so much more stimulating things on them, just because watching movies, surfing the web, and playing games are more fun/stimulating, does not make them a substitute for reading. I plan to subscribe to NYTimes when I get my nook, and thats just because the way its delivered, and the content that it has, it makes print media more stimulating just because its an electronic device, and I know I am not the only one who is shallow like that, where I need it to be electronic to give me motivation. I look forward to a future where my backpack for school is a nook and a computer.
Gah I got too into this discussion, sorry for the wall of text.
Prodigious comment!
tl;dr
I don't think they're going to be a mass market product for the moment. But we're still in the early rounds here. The iPod wasn't an immediate hit either. Also, I'd disagree with you on why it won't be a huge hit just yet. Yes of course the price matters, but the other things you cite? I'd have to point out the lack of color (magazines, newspapers, comic books), lack of support for other formats like PDF, word docs, etc, and the current DRM system. Honestly the iPod never would have been as huge if most people didn't have a way to get non-DRMed content onto the thing (e.g. ripping CDs).
If we're going to live with their stupid DRM schemes they need to work across devices. I'm sure there are lots of Kindle owners right now rethinking all those books they bought as they look at the Nook and realize they're locked in and didn't realize it until now. Book stores need to sell books. There need to be eBooks available that support various stores. Until that happens the market will remain nichey.
Of course they also need to figure lots of other stuff out--how to render PDFs that were designed for bigger pages, how to handle page numbers for students when there aren't any pages, how to allow note-taking in the margins, how to loan books, how to resell them, and on and on. All of this stuff will work itself out over time.
Single function device? Sure, right now. But over time this stuff will merge. Maybe some sort of combo LCD/transflective screen will be the solution. Color and video when you want it but better battery life than current LCD tech. Or something else. The single function eBook thing will only last for a time. Then there will just be form-factors, e.g. fits in your pocket, or in your purse.
They'll get there. This is an emerging technology. Unfortunately, too many in the media see it as their duty to judge every product on absolute grounds rather than in the context of evolution and growth, which always requires several iterations (at least) to get right.
Yeah, but why not judge on absolute grounds? It's still a product, and as a consumer we want reviews that help us gauge if the product has enough value to merit it's purchase. If it's a step in the right direction, but not really useful then I'll consider myself informed when I hear about it, but I'm not going to buy it. It's about value, which has a pretty black and white gauge on it: Worth it, not worth it, bought, not bought.
Back on the subject of eReaders: Yes, I think there is a market for them. My father, who is for all intents and purposes technophobic actually wants one, which is saying something. I think the portability, and ease of acquisition of hundreds of books will draw people to them, although not necessarily en masse. Print books aren't going anywhere for a while.
EVERY new product is prohibitively expensive when it first debuts. EVERY new product lacks certain features in the beginning that would make it more usable, mainly because adding them at the start would make it even more expensive. And EVERY emerging technology like e-ink requires time to mature, which happens when enough people buy the first few generations to justify the manufacturer's improvements. Judging it on absolute grounds like these cynically warns intrepid consumers away from spending that money and getting those improvements made.
Can you imagine if Engadget writers had reviewed the first refrigerator, or the first television? These were products that cost a fortune in the beginning and all had serious flaws. But hey, that must mean there's no market for them.
I'm not saying don't mention a product's shortcomings in a review, but Michael is using these very normal growing pains as a reason to suggest that there's no market for this product at all, which is crap. It's like he doesn't understand technology at all.
Afaik, the most popular device used as a ebook reader is ... PSP! The screen is bigger than most mobile phones, but still too small for me. Laptops are too heavy to be held in one hand. Or dun last long enough. I think there is definitely a market for dedicated ebook readers.
"...and why Sony's making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity."
Err, Sony stated months ago that their in the process of ditching their own proprietary format and switching to ePub.
I totally disagree. There is a huge market for dedicated book-like devices. Trust me, when my 65 year old mother asks me which one to buy, like she did last week, mainstream acceptance is coming soon.
I just want a smart, portable computer with an e-ink screen. (Okay, as long as I'm imagining this, an e-ink on one side and OLED on the other), aimed as a multi-purpose device (like today's smart phones) but _different_. Plain and simple, a practical information device as opposed to an entertainment device.
My favourite idea from the Kindle is being able to access Wikipedia. Meanwhile, I would love to see Interactive Fiction on this medium. It makes a lot of sense on e-ink. Done right, it really is a powerful art form.
The long battery life and the ability for stuff to stay on the screen for a long time makes a lot of sense for a scheduler, too.
I think the world is big enough for two different categories of multi-purpose portable gadgets with screens.
I'm kind of with you, in a way. I don't really care about having both OLED and e-ink in one device, but I'd like a tablet with e-ink that refreshes fairly quickly and runs a real OS, that has a pen/touch display and can use a bluetooth keyboard. I'm not sure how small "small" is for you, but for me I'd like something big enough to display A4 and Letter pages at full size (which, incidentally, works out to a 14.5" screen or larger). Color would be pretty sweet, but I would likely buy a well-priced, functional device that was gray-scale.
I'm a student. My physics textbook weighs something like six pounds, which doesn't sound like much, but combine that with my calculus text, which is almost as big, plus my laptop and the weight of my bag itself... hell, most days I only have one book and the computer, and the walking and stair-climbing is killing my knees and shoulders. If I had an e-reader device with all my books in electronic format, that weighed 2-3 pounds? Hell yes. If it had a pen input and I could carry around a bluetooth keyboard to go with it, I might not even need the laptop every day.
I remember there being a netbook that could turn to e-ink with the click of a button
I'm sure I saw it here on Engadget.
Author makes same mistakes about this device as most who have written about the subject. To address the three missing pieces:
1) They are a bit on the expensive side. The kindle does save on actual books, and pays for itself, eventually, given ebook pricing, and the large number of completely free classics, which you'd have to buy to read on paper.
2) Booklights work as well on a kindle as they do on a book. They cost about 5 dollars for the bedroom. Also, I'm not sure if you've been on an airplane since about 1950, but they have pretty good lights for reading magazines, books, and yes, ebooks. Non issue.
3) Refresh rate is a red herring. It takes less time to display a new page on my kindle dx then it does to turn a page on a normal hardcover book. Sitting with a laptop in bed is incredibly awkward, it gets hot, and, while it refreshes fast, grabbing for the trackpad to turn pages is not exactly comfortable while horizontal. Reading an entire novel on an iphone... c'mon, really? That's beyond silly for at least 3 reasons too obvious to insult people with by typing.
Cost is the main issue here. It isn't "moms" (people other than moms do read, you realize), back lighting, and refresh rates.
You mad brah?
Well I think refresh rate is a bit of an issue. It makes flicking through books and menus a bit tedious, but I do agree for actual page-turning while reading it isn't an issue at all.
"However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device."
Come now. I stopped reading at this point - do we really need to tell the *engadget editors* that e-ink displays are *different* to the LCD displays people already own? Seriously. Different.
By "suburban mom" they don't literally mean all women who live in the suburbs and have kids (and drive a minivan and take their kids to soccer practice). It's just a term they use for the masses, that is, if a suburban mom is willing to buy and use a product (an iPhone or Kindle, for example), then it is accepted into the mainstream.
The stereotypical suburban mom just wants a device that looks decent, is easy to carry around, is priced for the masses (rather than for the enthusiasts/geeks), and "just works" with minimal fuss. That's one large reason why the iPhone is so popular, and why eBook readers still have a ways to go.
Until they do, they'll have a limited market. As intrigued as I am by the Nook, I know I'm not an indicator of mass adoption. Once my mom asks me about a device, then I know it'll have mass appeal.
Book lights are also an annoying pain in the butt, despite there being many, many instances when natural lighting is insufficient. I've owned probably a dozen in my lifetime, hated them all, but they necessary evil until 6 years ago. Between bulbs, batteries and bulk, they always found a way to make life less convenient.
In 2003, I began reading on my palm m500 (a monochrome LCD screen with very comfortable backlighting), using eReader software (the company B&N bought a few months back before giving ebooks another go). Once book selection improved, I abandoned paper entirely. My e-library, not including free public domain books, is now as large as my actual library. I haven't owned or used another booklight since, and my reading experience (and my eyes, for the record) is (are) better for it.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/07/pixel-qis-3qi-lcd-screen-sized-up-with-kindle-cto-sheds-light/
Ideally, what I'd like to see in a dedicated eReader on this issue is Pixel qi screen tech. It's an LCD with a twist -- when put into epaper mode, the backlight goes completely off and various layers and reflective techs make it look a lot like eink -- and is perfectly visible in direct sunlight. It definitely would have less battery life as an LCD, but for me, that would be less of an issue than having to lug around and maintain a booklight, much less paying a premium for eink.
Slightly less ideally would be an eink reader that has a well-concealed well-designed booklight built in and tied to the ereader's battery. Instead of having multiple things to carry and multiple batteries to care for, it would all be part of the reader itself. Props to Sony for trying a sidelit reader, but their design undermined readability in all circumstances too much.
reading an ebook on an iphone may very well be silly. Doing it on a phone that actually has a decent screen (both in size and DPI), such as the HTC HD, is not silly at all. I in fact read 2 books per week like that, and have been doing so all year. I only read books with illustrations in printed form.
Actually I have read about 10 full-sized novels on my iPhone with the Kindle app. We are talking novels that would be around 500 pages or more when printed. I love the convenience, and the fact that I don't have to remember to grab my book off the night stand before I leave for work in the morning. I read around 4-5 books a month. Since I started using the Kindle app, I have only found myself missing the book covers, but not the book itself. After all, a good story should take you away from the reality that you are not actually holding a book in your hand. I am looking forward to the Nook, and will definitely buy one as soon as I can. I do wish they would come down on the pricing for individual books, though.
As a high-schooler, I was quite apathetic about the Kindle, and any excitement I had was because it was a new product, not because it was something I wanted. With the announcement of the nook, however, I'm getting pretty pumped about owning a e-reader, especially with two different screens (seems very useful).
I do have a question concerning the consumption of e-books: is there a Zune Pass-esque way to purchase books from any e-book retailer? I feel that books ESPECIALLY apply to the 'consume once' aspect of media, and I don't think I'd like to buy each book at full-price for one-time use. That, more than anything, would convince me to get an e-reader.
I would also buy this in a heart beat if you didn't have to spend so much on books with it. They really should make a Zune-Pass kind of thing for this.
Oh wow, yeah that would be huge, a subscription service would be killer for an ebook reader, and probably the first company to do one, will have the biggest upper hand, it would be like a commercial library and especially if they had textbooks, college students would immediately switch. Just like Video Games, the cost of Textbooks are very much influenced by the fact that students sell back their books, (Look at how much cheaper games are on services like steam, when you remove the invisible "Sell back tax", prices become much more reasonable). With a medium in which you can't sell back books, a subscription based service would be economically feasible, because the actual value of textbooks would plummet, and still be profitable.
I feel like I am inside a a new facebook game/app called "Spamville" .
Good job engadget for removing the spam! Now my post just looks awkward...
Well... I feel the need to comment on this. Amazon, BnN listen up. My wife can be described as a suburban mom, we have three kids, three dogs, etc... She has called the sony ereader (505 model i think) one of the best gifts I have given her. She used to read 2 novels a week made from trees, now shes all electronic. She also used to not like the idea of ereaders, but after she tried it she loved it. I could go on but im typing with my thumbs so ill get to the point. The only thing that needs improvement is the price of the ebooks. If the amount saved with ebooks offset the cost of the reader for an average book worm after a year there would be a whole new layer of new users.
Old news. My mother inlaw been doing ereader for a year now on iPhone n my kid too. She bought over 40 books in 1 year. By the way free reader on iPhone. Sick or what.
Get with the times people.
and have your mother's eyes been bothering her lately?
?Who want's to read an 800 page novel on a phone? What's that about 10,000 screens
My 60+ Dad really wants an e-reader, sees all the benefits but wants colour pages and a cheaper price point. I'd like one for reading webpages, getting magazine and newspaper subscriptions and reading books (mainly non-fiction, but a good recommendation app built in would make me expand my fiction reading) but again I want colour for the web/magazines and £180 is too much to pay.
Give me a 7 inch colour screen, a built in system for recommending books I might like, a web browser and a sub-£150 price point and I'll bite. But I get the feeling that that might be too much to ask for a few years yet.
I don't want to read on a backlit screen, or anything LCD as it is not comfortable for long periods. Screen refresh is not a concern, as stated by another commenter I have to wait to turn a page at the moment and I'm not going to be watching video on it.
Imagine when prices get down to the point where you can buy an ebook reader preloaded for a comparable amount to a new hardcover or two.
The Nook would be a HUGE hit if it was priced in the $90 - $120 range. As it is, people all over are cutting back on non-essential spending, and the current price for this thing puts it in the category of luxury electronics.
It will get there like anything else. It takes time for a company to recover their initial costs with a new product.
When I can get an e-reader that I can read Newsweek or WSJ with the related graphs and pictures in a respectable resolution than I'll be all over it. Call me crazy but I believe that many of the articles don't have the same impact without the pictures or graphs that accompany the print version.
Apparently all those who complain about an LCD must not work with a computer because I look at my computer monitor for hours and I personally woudln't have a problem at looking at one to read for a few hours especially if I can control the brightness, etc...
I work on a computer all day and I most definitely prefer my Sony 505 for long stretches of reading. There's a difference between working on a computer and reading a novel on one. I've tried it, I'll pass on the LCD.
Do NOT assume that what is true for you is true for the whole. Everyone is different.
My eyes definitely start to strain after awhile in front of the computer. Especially with the glossy LCD on my laptop (my matte desktop LCD is a bit more tolerable).
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.