Amazon Kindle’s biggest competitor? The print book!
As excited as I get about electronic books and all things digital, not everyone feels the same way. When I talk to fellow bookworms, especially those who are middle-aged or so, they merely shrug off ebooks and make up some silly excuse that the screens are too small or they can’t imagine reading so much on a screen (yet they have no problems reading emails, articles, blogs, etc on their computers).
So when I read all these different articles about the Amazon Kindle, and whether the iPhone is a "Kindle-killer" or whether or not the Sony Reader will surpass the Kindle in sales, I secretly think that the Kindle’s biggest competitor is still the print book.
Ebook lovers still have a lot of work to do in convincing skeptics that ebooks aren’t just some elitist alternative to traditional publishing, rather, ebooks are the future of traditional publishing. Yes, ebooks take a little getting used to and publishers cannot yet agree on a standardized format, but that’s just the nature of emerging technology.
Many still hold onto print books as something sacred, which I totally understand. I love the feel, the look and even the smell of a brand new print book I just bought at the bookstore. I remember loving that feeling even in my careless days of high school. Will print books always be around? I don’t know. Much of that answer will depend on how we deal with the environmental impact of cutting down so many trees to make into paper for the books.
My main point is this: As popular as ebooks are becoming, I’m still hard pressed to talk to people who embrace ebooks like I do. I find a few that are willing to give them a shot, to those that want nothing to do with ebooks. The bad news is that I find many more people in the latter category.
What do you think it will take for ebooks to go "mainstream"? Better standards? No DRM? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
