More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
Baby boomers leading the ebook assault
March 22, 2010 | 7:30 am
|
By Paul Biba
From ABC News Australia:
Middle-aged women have astonished the publishing industry by leading the demand in the rapidly expanding e-book market.
Sydney theatre nurse Candace Gray, 48, was among the first to get an Amazon e-book reader, the Kindle, when it was released in Australia last year.
It was a gift from her husband in the hope it might drag her into the digital age.
“I have a phone with a camera – I never even use it,” she said.
“I don’t know how to Skype, I don’t know how to blog … but once I found out what I could do with this Kindle, I just couldn’t put it down.”
Ms Gray says the e-reader has changed the way she reads. She now dips into a book, in shorter bites, throughout the day.
“It’s like having a bookstore in the palm of your hand,” she said. “I don’t watch television anymore.”
According to Michael Tamblyn, VP of content and sales with the Canadian digital publisher Kobo, Mrs Gray is the typical of the new e-reader’s demographic – the very group that was expected to fiercely resist giving up their hard copies.
“Who would have ever thought aging, squinting boomers would drive a new market for e-books?” he said.
Thanks to Resource Shelf for the link.
|
Related Posts:
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
As a person in their 50′s and a life long book buyer/reader, what makes Amazon’s Kindle fantastic is the selection of available books that I can buy. Too bad more publishers don’t make their wares available to us ebook buyers. I don’t understand their reluctance. A book sold is a book sold no matter the format. Besides, unless a paper book is the right size for holding in ones hand for more than 5 minutes, I don’t want it. Plain and simple. Plus I want to be able to adjust the font to my liking and I do like the built in dictionary. Amazon is the best.
“Who would have ever thought aging, squinting boomers would drive a new market for e-books?” he said.
Simple – anybody who’s gotten to an age where their optometrist tells them they need bifocals.
Wide selection plus near-instant acquisition. Oprah recommends a book on her show and you can be reading the first chapter before the next commercial break is over. Such an advantage, a “game changer”, cannot be underestimated.
Middle-aged and older folks, such as myself, can best appreciate this aspect. We’ve had long experience with trying to find something to read at a bookstore only to come up empty due to limited shelf space. Especially frustrating was finding something interesting that was a series, and the first novel not on the shelf. Online book shopping improved things but there was the wait for shipping when we may want to pick up on Friday to read over the weekend. Etc.
Ebooks are better than having a bookstore in your hand. No bookstore ever held more than a small fraction of the books now available electronically, instantly. It feels liberating.