E-book+Trends

E-book Trends Ann Lowrey  A lthough there are many traditional hard-copy book readers across the globe, there is a new way that books can be read. In roughly 2007, Amazon produced a piece of equipment that allowed you to download full books off the internet and then would be transferred into this hand held device t hey called a Kindle. This was a huge success with book readers all over.  This article tells how companies such as Best Buy and Verizon are going to be involved in the release of the new e-book devices that originated in Europe. Best Buy will be offering these products  in their store as well as online. These new devices will be using Verizon’s 3G network to make the purchasing of digital books and newspapers wireless. Along with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will also be  joining this market. These new devices are called the i Rex as well as the Sony Reader.

With the tech<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">nology of accessing books over the internet seemed to have interested more p   <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">eople into reading who normally just resort to music or a magazine to occupy their time. This way of reading lessens aliteracy, which is when “people posses t   <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">he ability to read but are unwilling to do so” (Baron, 2010, p. 6 <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">7). By making these devices more affordable, more people will be willing to buy this device if it would help them become more interested in reading again. Although the article from the New York Times suggested that more will buy this device if the cost was under $100 but the article stated that “one way this could ultimately happen is if wireless providers like Verizon subsidize the devices and sell them in their stores, as they do with inexpensive laptops called netbooks” (Stone, 2009, p. 1). This could happen down the road once they see the initial results of these new competitors.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Companies are now realizing what a huge impact the original Kindle had on book readers across the globe. Competing companies saw the huge profits and wanted part of that action. With big-name companies such as Best Buy and Verizon promoting their products, these new versions may overwhelm the original Kindle. By selling the e-book reader at major stores such as Best Buy, it gives them a heads up on the Kindle which is only available online through Amazon. media type="youtube" key="XdpWnmawiBI" height="344" width="425"

Works Cited Baran, S. (2010). Introduction to mass communication. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Company Inc.

Stone, S. (2009 September 23). Best Buy and Verizon jump into e-reader fray. New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/technology/internet/23ebooks.html?_r=1&ref=technology