I ran across this post at Engadget earlier this week and it reminded me of the use the iLiad reader has been finding in the airline industry. It also made me think about a conversation I had with a co-worker who owns and uses a Sony reader (the first time I've seen one "in the wild", as it were) and who absolutely loves it for its ability to hold every manuscript she is working on and still fit in her purse.
Both of these examples really throw into perspective how beneficial the ability to carry as many papers as you want in a 12oz package.
One of the things I think will be interesting to see is how this plays out in the educational market - particularly for college textbook publishers. If a single platform such as this becomes widely adopted, which would seem to be the next stage of the various clicker devices that textbook publishers are offering as an extra to many of their books, it would be unbelievably easy to deliver students' books without the cost of printing (or the cost of the used book market) and it would allow them to install Blackboard-esque tracking and collaboration software at the same time, potentially linked to notes that students make directly on their texts. And (unlike in the trade market at this time), this is a move that would probably be embraced by the students - fewer items to lug to class, more interactivity, and cheaper textbooks (they would lose the money they get when selling books back, but that never comes near the price they paid for the book in the first place).


What happened to the blog? No more updates?
Posted by: Sean Bateman | March 20, 2007 at 02:58 PM