The mainstream U.S. book industry keeps shrinking rather than reaching out for new markets. Sadly, reflecting turmoil in both the book and newspaper businesses, the Washington Post is killing off Book World as a regular supplement. And this isn’t the best year for the book biz in other countries, either. How to respond?
Long term, some of best juiciest pickings could be in developing countries—where millions in time will start using e-book-capable tablets, smart cellphones and other devices. So, with interest, I’m watching the e-book-related hardware efforts of One Laptop Per Child, which, as in the case of netbooks, could be a stalking horse for Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and other giants.
On the left above, you see the latest OLPC XO-2 mockup, assuming that the image isn’t just a Photoshop job. Slightly different from the earlier one shown to the right, eh? Notice the circle shape at the top of the photo? Is that a WiFi antenna? And now the usual question. What do you think of the ergonomics? Will the hinge-style arrangement get in the way of e-book reading? I doubt it, but some might feel otherwise in the case of textbooks with detailed illustrations.
