They might be a medium for books and stories – However, every eReader has its own story and it’s worth investigating and figuring out which eReader has the most compelling story.
eReaders’ Stories
- The first name that springs to mind is Readius from Polymer Vision - the folding screen eReader. Polymer Vision went into bankruptcy and then Wistron bought the rights and resuscitated Readius. We might have a winner.
- The Kindle Story is supposed to be every book in every language ever published - However, does the Kindle have a bigger story behind it? Is it the eReader that helped create the eReader market? Is the bigger story Amazon’s turning the Kindle into a service that reaches into every nook and cranny of Publishing?
- The Nook is writing an interesting story with the lawsuit alleging stolen ideas and the strange delays. There’s the even bigger back story of B&N’s survival – the last great hope for a giant bookseller.
- Sony might not have a story and that might be its problem.
If Sony doesn’t come up with a compelling story it might get handed one by default – the poster child for missed eReader opportunity.
Sony entered the market before everyone else and made the mistake of forgetting that an eReader is about reading and not about the device itself. It’s still lost in the device and forgetting that it’s about books and stories.
What other stories can we find?
- Google has two stories to figure out - a story for Google Books and the copyright lawsuit, and a story for Google Editions. They’re still beginning and it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with. They’ll try to find a sub-story out of organizing the world’s information - However, few booklovers will buy that.
- Apple’s eReader story might be Waiting for Godot. Or it might be a repeat of the iPod story where a device is so well done it rewrites the script. Quite frankly, I doubt Apple cares enough about reading to create a device and a story just for books – we readers are but a subplot where the main plot focuses on movies and games.
- Plastic Logic is a tough one – It’s the European company coming into US markets and taking on the Giants. What story could it possibly spin that would get readers to take a chance?
It’s strange to see eReader makers jump in with little thought given to what eReaders mean – to owners, to readers, to books, and to the future.
An eReader doesn’t have to have the absolutely best, most compelling story to win – However, it does need to have a compelling story.
Filed under: thoughts Tagged: | ereader stories
Wistron bought Polymer Vision
thanks for the correction. updated.
Had some chuckles over this post! Thanks for thinking out loud with this unique analysis!