eBooks: Right or Wrong, Part II

So, our discussion continues.

As you can tell by the the various iPad articles and statements, it has been received by a most varied audience. Love it or hate it, it's quite interesting and will nonetheless cause the market to slightly shift (maybe more, too early to tell) to include tablets, such as this pictured Joojoo.

But what about eBooks? Perhaps one of the most interesting comments I read was from Steve Jobs, saying:

[responds to query about issue of battery life] You know there isn't...You end up plugging it in, you end up docking it, or whatever your going to do with it. It's not a big deal; ten hours is a long time. You're not going to read for ten hours.

Now, in his defense, this was right after the presentation, and I'm sure that the interviewer got the CEO of Apple johnny on the spot with his questions. It wasn't an attack but a careful probe. But it's not like Steve Jobs needs my help.

While most interesting, none of this helps the quandary of whether or not eBooks have place. So let's do this quick.

eBooks do have a place. As of right now, 2010, it honestly goes to a privileged bunch. You know who I'm talking about. The six-figure income family with disposable income; the poseurs with disposable income; or the wanna-be de rigueur, who will put themselves in debt just to look the part. Sure, there are exceptions to rules and this is no exception; snazzy collegians, die-hard readers, and solvent retirees (or near) may quite well partake in the early adoptions of these eBooks.

Price and battery life are the primary issues; secondary to that is the formats that the device will encode/decipher. The iPad goes for $499 USD for the base model (16 GB with WiFi) while the addition of 3G hardware adds $150 USD; the price goes up for additional storage. The Amazon Kindle goes for $259 USD, and the Sony Reader starts at $199 USD and goes up from there.

My friend said that while these are nice, they will never replace a good old fashioned book. I happen to agree with him. Something that has worked for over a millennium obviously works, and does so well.

So, now that leaves us with the recommendation.

That's for next time.

Shazam!