More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
Ebook readers: owners want email, battery life and internet
September 10, 2009 | 8:50 am
|
By Paul Biba
Here’s part of the results of a survey by In-Stat on ebook readers. You can read the rest here:
“According to In-Stat`s most recent consumer survey, current e-book owners
desire email capability in the next e-book they purchase”, says Stephanie
Ethier, In-Stat analyst. “Longer battery life and Internet connectivity are the top two desired features among respondents who don`t currently own an e-book but plan to buy one in the next year.”
Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
* Amazon is the leading brand of e-book owned.
* The largest percentage of e-book owners (45.5%) is spending between $9 and $20 a month on e-book content.
* Eleven percent of total survey respondents said they planned to purchase an e-book over the next 12 months.
|
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
Internet connectivity? E-mail? Funny… that doesn’t sound like a “dedicated device” anymore to me…
It’s also obvious that these stats were compiled in the U.S., not internationally.
I couldn’t disagree more on the desire for internet access. I think the Kindle has oversold some of the features that people need in a solid ebook reader. While I enjoy the concept behind whispernet and the upcoming sony daily edition, It’s just not an efficient place to browse a multimedia rich internet.
Ultimately though, I think the poll backs up some of Steve Jobs recent comments, that a lot of people would prefer a more general purpose device that reads ebooks, rather than a dedicated ebook reader. Not me, I have a netbook that is a very portable web gateway, and a sony prs-505 that is a dream to read books on.
Let me chime in here as one who couldn’t care less about the internet connectivity of my Kindle. When I got the K1, of course I tried it out, was underwhelmed and gave it up. With K2 it is somewhat faster, but zippy it is not. There are too many other ways to get on the internet to get excited about that as a feature. Yes, I love Whispernet for getting books, blogs and periodicals, but I’d rather save my battery life for reading than to suck the life out of it doing a slow crawl around the internet.