Since 2005, there have been roughly around 20 different e-book readers – only a handful have made past the one year mark. Last year, Plastic Logic revealed exciting technology that will be implemented in their new e-reader that is set to come out early next year. With recently formed new partnerships, the Cambridge based company is hoping to be Kindles first real competitor.
About two weeks ago, Barnes & Noble released the world’s largest online bookstore with over 700,000 digital e-books to choose from (Amazon carries 300,000). Later that week, Plastic Logic announced that they are going to partner up with Barnes & Nobles to allow users to download books onto their e-readers on the go. Plastic Logic also announced its exclusive partnership with AT&T and their 3G Network capabilities – providing the missing link to successfully compete with Kindle.
So why is this important? Big things are happening in the electronic book reader market and this could be the much needed push to rally up more competition, potentially lowering costs for all e-readers. The advantages for e-readers are endless but like the iPod in the digital music player market, there needs to be an electronic reader that is extremely easy to use, has a great design, and has a large digital library – including textbooks that college students can download.
For all you Apple fanatics, there are rumors that with Apple’s recent large order of 10 inch touch screen monitors they would be able to create a either a Netbook-tablet or a great looking e-reader. Other rumors continue to say that Apple has been receiving large shipments of paperback books – potentially scanning them and syncing them to be sold through iTunes. Maybe this device will combine both the Netbook and the e-reader into one tablet.
Uh-oh Kindle…