E-BOOKS

The Paperless Paper Revolution

The biggest problem with the implementation of the Paperless Office is that we tried to
run before we could walk. That is to say, we tried to go paperless, before we had a
compelling alternative to paper.

I think you’ll all agree that lugging around an awkwardly sized, and piping hot, laptop
everywhere you go, just isn’t practical. And if it ain’t practical, it ain’t going nowhere.

In fact, it’s quite unreasonable and unrealistic, to ask someone to desist from using paper
entirely — including paper books — given that the experience and convenience of
dealing with paper is far superior.

The good news however, is that the winds of change are beginning to blow through our
homes and offices, and we’ll soon be able to change that “is” to a “was”. Why am I so
confident? Well a number of reasons really.

Electronic Reading Devices

Given the recent onslaught of a new breed of electronic reading devices — the Amazon
Kindle, Sony Reader, iRex Digital Reader, Readius, Astak Mentor, BeBook Reader and
Cybook G — it’s reasonable to assume that these companies think that e-book reading
devices have a bright future. Indeed it looks like they are on the verge of engaging in a
battle that resembles the early PC wars for the hearts and minds (but mainly cash) of John
and Jane Doe.

Battles aside, this is great news. The more competitors in the market the better. Hopefully
this hot competition will produce the electronic reading device that seals the deal — a
device so easy-to-use and convenient that it makes reading a paper book feel positively
outdated.

Electronic Paper and Digital Paper

Devices like the Kindle and Sony Reader are great, but they aren’t enough. In order for
paper to be completely replaced, we need to save a replacement that closely mimics its
properties. That’s where e-paper and digital paper come in. Unlike electronic reading
devices, electronic paper and digital paper are attempts at replacing the real thing. In
general terms electronic paper attempts to mimic the look of ordinary ink on paper, while
digital paper attempts to replicate the action of writing on paper.
Imagine a sheet of e-paper that for all intents and purposes looks like regular old tree
paper. It’s lightweight, it’s bendy, it’s durable — except, it’s different. Not only does it
let you write, by hand, as much as you want — when you get to the bottom of a page you

just have to virtually flick on over to the next page — but it also lets you load up
previously saved documents. It’s a briefcase, except it’s as thick as a sheet of paper.

We aren’t quite there yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Plastic Logic
Reader is one example — in a recent BBC article they looked at how Plastic Logic is
leading the charge in coming up with a paper killer.

The e-Generation

Some argue that the move to less paperless world is a generational thing. That it will only
be achieve when the YouTube generation, who presumably aren’t as attached to paper
books, grow up and take the lead. Maybe this is the case, but I also think that even baby
boomers will want to make the switch in a few years, when the technology catches up
with our needs.

For me, the switch to paperless paper is inevitable — and if you think that we’re still
going to be using paper in 2020, like we currently do, then I — well I just don’t agree
with you. It’s true, old habits die hard, but this habits days are truly numbered.

Evolution of the e-Book Market

The emergence of a commercially significant electronic book (e-book) market in the past
three years has been the result of two quite-recent technological developments. The first,
and most critical, has been a breakthrough in the technology for manufacturing reflective
electronic paper displays (EPDs), allowing for the introduction of affordable, lightweight
and portable e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.

The second has been the rollout of reliable “3G” wireless broadband networks, which
have made it possible to deliver digital books directly to reading devices without the
intermediate steps of downloading files to a PC and then transferring them to a reader.
Direct-to-device sampling and delivery, particularly with Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s
iPhone, have enabled impulse-driven e-commerce, which has been critical to early
consumer adoption of e-books.

The technology for e-books, however, remains nascent. The Kindle and its ilk are very
much first-generation devices that deliver the minimally acceptable experience. Further
development of the business will be closely tied to future technological development
including flexible and color displays, format standardization and rich-media applications.
As the market grows, there are numerous opportunities for other technology players, from

social networks to cloud service providers and more. This examines the trends and
opportunities ahead.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Hachette Book Group

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading US trade
publisher headquartered in New York and owned
by Hachette Livre, the second largest publisher in the world. In one year, HBG publishes
approximately 450 adult books, 150 young adult and children's books, and 60 audio book
titles across five major publishers: Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown and
Company for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, Orbit, Yen Press, FaithWords,
Center Street and Hachette Audio. In 2008, the company had a record 107 books on the
New York Times bestseller list, with 35 of them ranked #1.

Sony Electonics Inc.

Sony Electronics Inc. is a leading provider of audio/video electronics and information
technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Operations include
research and development, design, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing,
distribution and customer service. Reader is Sony's family of portable reading devices for
E-Books. Its high-resolution electronic paper display delivers a realistic print look that
rivals traditional paper and uses minimal power. The Reader provides access to books
from many places, including The Reader Store from Sony, books from public libraries
and more than one million free public domain titles from Google Books.

Barnes & Noble

HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial
fiction, nonfiction and children's books. Consistently at the forefront of innovation,
HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital
warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, and meet growing consumer demand.

OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library
service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of
furthering access to the world's information and reducing library costs.
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