Over the last month, Frédéric Filloux, Monday Note editor, has been stuffing his iPad with books purchased online, long PDF files and other documents for later reading sessions. He has eschewed email (too clumsy), writing, twittering, surfing with Safari etc, which he admits is not exactly using the device as Steve Jobs intended.
The aim of this exercise? Can tablet computing be the missing link, the 1 that could rehabilitate (or rather introduce) long form reading in digital format — in a profitable way?
To answer this he projects a few years ahead – to 2010 – when tablets have become a mobile-phone-like commodity, and competition is strong; when devices from Samsung or HTC running Android or god knows what operating systems are thriving; when standards for digital formats have emerged and e-books are heading toward a 25% market share in Europe and the United States.
In this utopian state he assumes the digital publishing chain is running smoothly and efficiently, albeit with several caveats. Suffice to say, he asserts “the concept of book publishing needs an upgrade.”
Read the article in full at Monday Note …
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