Could ebooks profit from the death of ereaders?
Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by JD in blog
Reading ebooks on ereaders is great, don’t get me wrong, but at the moment novels (and the occasional textbook) are the only thing most people (including me) are reading on them. What about magazines, blogs, newspapers, and other feeds? These formats represent huuuuge readerships in printed and online publications around the world, and there are those that think the sooner all publication formats are available on the same device, the better off ereading will be. Forget your dedicated ereader – what if everything you wanted to read was easily readable on your device.
While the rest of us wait with baited breath for the Apple iTablet and the Android equivalent(s), a couple of companies out there are working hard to provide software that will allow us to easily read magazines and other image-heavy formats in ways we are used to (and some that are kick-arse new).
Issuue have developed a brilliantly intuative magazine reader for Android that will soon be available on iPhone. Here’s the video Thanks, TechCrunch. Issuu Reader really succeeds in keeping your place on a page filled with disparate elements while you expand and read certain elements or articles.
Meanwhile, others are developing new and innovative ways of interacting with a magazine-like interface? On an iTablet or one of the Android tablets that must be close to release, why shouldn’t a magazine-like page be peppered with video and interactive elements. The boffins from US mag publisher Bonnier have come up with the Mag+ tablet concept. Hey, they publish Popular Science, so they’re allowed to have an R&D department. Here’s are some pics, courtesy of Engadget.
JD
