As the Mobile World Congress opens in Barcelona to gloomy mobile handset predictions, expect more positive news from a soldier turned bestselling author and Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry, which will focus new attention on the potential of the growing e-book market.
Correction – the e-reader market!
The author of Bravo Two Zero is ex SAS solder Andy McNab who co founded the GoSpoken audio book company two years ago. It is quite a deal he is expected to announce with a GoSpoken e-reader application will be launched for BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Bold handsets for Vodafone customers in the UK and with hopes to roll out the service to other networks and handset makers. It’s quite an opportunity remembering that worldwide there are 50 million BlackBerrys in use!
Development of the e-book or e-reader is hugely significant to two different owner groups. In terms of potential, the growth of e-books is the one clear opportunity for new revenue for handset makers and for the networks.
Why the paragraph 2 correction? Calling this new piece of technology an e-book reader is too narrow because the other group watching the growth of the e-reader sesctor closely is newspaper publishers. At a time when worldwide newspaper circulations are falling, in the e-reader newspaper publishers have an opportunity to charge for news content, rather than be pressured into giving it away free. Already the New York Times charges £9.70 a month for its edition sent wireless to the Kindle e-reader.
Is this the electronics industry's next iPod?
For me, an e-reader slightly bigger than the Kindle would be perfect. And I'd read my New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post on it. Trying to scan/read all three online takes too much time and being able to flip through the "paper" version (and receive them wirelessly) would be a joy. Put a web browser in it, and I think it is the electronics industry next iPod.
Posted by: Steve Shannon | February 17, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Steve, good to hear from you. A friend of miine reckons that when and if Apple say they are not interested in the e-reader market, it really means they're coming in and then you might get the neat version you have described.
Posted by: Barry Leggetter | February 19, 2009 at 08:44 AM