Faultline gets complaints that it’s coverage is all over the place, taking in subjects as diverse as IPTV, cable TV, mobile TV, web delivery, Netbooks and digital photo frames. But they are all part and parcel of the transition to digital from analog, and that’s where the business models change the most rapidly.
Photos are going digital, TVs, PCs and handsets are changing their shape and capabilities to receive these digital formats, and for some time the book has been going digital. So we make no excuse for these little diversions into things like eBook readers, and this week is no exception.
The arrival of the PC was the biggest digital event ever, followed then by the arrival of the internet, and the key to both of them is that they are ‘general purpose’ – that you can use them for lots of things or for almost anything.
Any device which comes to market cannot last long doing only one thing, which is why everyone thinks that ebook readers will be sucked into the wider morass of handsets and netbooks.
While that may be true, it will take some time before these devices can come complete with a good enough screen to show newspaper print, at a price point that means the device can be used for other applications.
This is where Taiwanese Netbook supplier ASUS is aiming right now, and though there is absolutely no data on the screen quality and whether or not it uses electronic ink (the page description process that makes the book easy on the eye, just like a real book), it is planning to make it more general purpose.
Why not also use the ebook reader screen to browse the web, run Skype calls, and send email? And ASUS says it will bring out such an ereader at a price point of just $164.
The device will come in two versions, one at that low price, probably devoid of most of those extra features, and another at a higher price with them all on board. ASUS was the company that revolutionized price points for Netbooks and still sets the price performance standards there, so we think that the top model’s price will still be below the Amazon Kindle and Sony ereaders and this may be the start of widespread commercial take up. In fact this is pretty much a Netbook if you think about it.
The company says the device will emerge in time for Christmas and borrow from its exiting Netbook Eee PC designs, with a hinge down the middle so that readers can open and close it like a book, with left and right pages showing at the same time.
But this design ploy will also allow ASUS the ability to make both screens touch sensitive and for users to turn it on its side and use one of them as a touch Qwerty keyboard.
The device will connect to the internet using Wi-Fi and the screens can also be turned into pages for browsing the web, either while reading on the other screen or while using it as a keyboard. The addition of speakers, a webcam and a microphone ‘ all coming down the line says ASUS, will mean that it can also be used as a music player, for conference calling and for Skype calls.
Asus did not mention the types of ebooks it would read, but there is growing weight behind the ePub open standard and recently Sony embraced this in its latest releases, and it is likely that Adobe Acrobat documents will also be readable. Launch time will be around October or November when many of these imponderables will be answered, especially the vital one about the screen quality.
Interestingly US researcher In-Stat has just released a report saying pretty much what ASUS is saying, that the devices have plenty of room if bolstered by new features such as e-mail and Web connectivity.
What consumers want the most are longer battery life and Internet connectivity said In-Stat, and they are also spending more and more, between $9 and $20 a month, on e-book content.