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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet! - By Thomas McKinney Amazon's Kindle. By Tom McKinney Last month, Mike Stillman wrote about the new Kobo eBook reader which Borders is now selling for $149. Last month, that price was cheaper than the competition, but the price made sense in that the Kobo reader makes some compromises in terms of features. What a difference a month can make! Literally overnight, first Barnes & Noble reduced the price of their Nook 3G-ready (means it's able to download books anywhere you have cellular reception) reader by $60 to $199, and then Amazon immediately followed suit by lowering the price of their Kindle reader by $10 more to $189--both were available for $259 previously. Barnes & Noble also introduced a wi-fi only Nook retailing for exactly $149. Unfortunately for Borders, their Kobo's got the odds stacked against it when matched up against a Nook featuring an identical price-point and more features. As of this writing, it's still priced at $149, but I believe that will either change fast, or they'll focus on selling third party products. The big culprit in all of this is, yes, we're back to this topic, Apple's iPad. Three million have been sold in the first eighty days of its availability, and over 5 million eBooks have been downloaded from their "iBookstore." It can be an eBook reader clearly, and a lot more. It costs more than double most eReaders on the market now, but that hasn't been a problem since it does a lot more. It has caused problems for other readers because it has exposed what the public values—-multimedia content. According to research firm Forrester, eBook reader prices are actually going to need to get below $100 to truly see widespread use. So being half the price of an iPad isn't enough. What they found was the large majority of adults just don't see the need for an expensive reader, but that around $100, the price was low enough for them to be enticed. The value of reading alone is low to consumers. For the iPad, it's essentially an added bonus that you can use it to read. The iPad's success, like the iPhone's, is prompting companies around the world to try to figure out how they can match the design and function. Tablets are only going to get cheaper and more widespread, and for makers of eBook readers who are already feeling the heat, it's only going to get hotter. It's already projected the iPad will outsell all eBook readers in the U.S. combined this year, and that's not to mention all other tablets and smartphones that have the ability to read eBooks.
EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet! - By Thomas McKinney Barnes & Noble's Nook. For the eBook readers to survive, the technology's going to need to get cheaper so they can sell cheaper, and for sellers that also have bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, those stores selling content are going to be what carries them. This is where the real ebook wars will take place; just like the competition between Apple and Google to provide Apps to their competing iPhone and Android phones. Sooner or later everyone's hardware is about equal, but it's usually the software and content that distinguishes successful from not. The eReaders may also just never see widespread success. It makes sense that they'd stay a niche item for a demographic that I think is already a niche: readers! The Internet's changed the way many people read, and for the most part, it has seemed to lower our attention span. My own experience with the Internet has virtually taken over all the time I spent reading as a kid. In the future, reader hardware may just be part of the next generation of iPads and tablets. The readability of the e-ink makes them ideal for schools and for long reading sessions. What I see for the future is the ability to switch your tablet's screen from backlit color to an e-ink-like monochrome view, thus giving you the best feature of an eBook reader, and marrying it with the capabilities of a full-fledged computer/tablet. Now that's an eReader that I'd buy.

EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet!

- By Thomas McKinney

Amazon's Kindle.

By Tom McKinney

Last month, Mike Stillman wrote about the new Kobo eBook reader which Borders is now selling for $149. Last month, that price was cheaper than the competition, but the price made sense in that the Kobo reader makes some compromises in terms of features. What a difference a month can make! Literally overnight, first Barnes & Noble reduced the price of their Nook 3G-ready (means it's able to download books anywhere you have cellular reception) reader by $60 to $199, and then Amazon immediately followed suit by lowering the price of their Kindle reader by $10 more to $189--both were available for $259 previously. Barnes & Noble also introduced a wi-fi only Nook retailing for exactly $149. Unfortunately for Borders, their Kobo's got the odds stacked against it when matched up against a Nook featuring an identical price-point and more features. As of this writing, it's still priced at $149, but I believe that will either change fast, or they'll focus on selling third party products.

The big culprit in all of this is, yes, we're back to this topic, Apple's iPad. Three million have been sold in the first eighty days of its availability, and over 5 million eBooks have been downloaded from their "iBookstore." It can be an eBook reader clearly, and a lot more. It costs more than double most eReaders on the market now, but that hasn't been a problem since it does a lot more. It has caused problems for other readers because it has exposed what the public values—-multimedia content. According to research firm Forrester, eBook reader prices are actually going to need to get below $100 to truly see widespread use. So being half the price of an iPad isn't enough. What they found was the large majority of adults just don't see the need for an expensive reader, but that around $100, the price was low enough for them to be enticed. The value of reading alone is low to consumers. For the iPad, it's essentially an added bonus that you can use it to read.

The iPad's success, like the iPhone's, is prompting companies around the world to try to figure out how they can match the design and function. Tablets are only going to get cheaper and more widespread, and for makers of eBook readers who are already feeling the heat, it's only going to get hotter. It's already projected the iPad will outsell all eBook readers in the U.S. combined this year, and that's not to mention all other tablets and smartphones that have the ability to read eBooks.

EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet!

- By Thomas McKinney

Barnes & Noble's Nook.

For the eBook readers to survive, the technology's going to need to get cheaper so they can sell cheaper, and for sellers that also have bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, those stores selling content are going to be what carries them. This is where the real ebook wars will take place; just like the competition between Apple and Google to provide Apps to their competing iPhone and Android phones. Sooner or later everyone's hardware is about equal, but it's usually the software and content that distinguishes successful from not.

The eReaders may also just never see widespread success. It makes sense that they'd stay a niche item for a demographic that I think is already a niche: readers! The Internet's changed the way many people read, and for the most part, it has seemed to lower our attention span. My own experience with the Internet has virtually taken over all the time I spent reading as a kid.

In the future, reader hardware may just be part of the next generation of iPads and tablets. The readability of the e-ink makes them ideal for schools and for long reading sessions. What I see for the future is the ability to switch your tablet's screen from backlit color to an e-ink-like monochrome view, thus giving you the best feature of an eBook reader, and marrying it with the capabilities of a full-fledged computer/tablet. Now that's an eReader that I'd buy.