Just as with any new technology, the price will come down (see also, VCRs, CD players, DVD players, personal computers, etc).
As the parent noted, the true innovation here is E-Ink. E-books still have a number of hurdles to overcome before they begin to compete wholesale with paper books, but arguably the biggest obstacle was replacing digital displays with something that immitated ink on paper and could be read easily in full light. I was dismayed but not surprised to see that the physical design of this new generation of e-books is still rigid and boxy. An obvious next step is to design a reader that is flexible, small (6" x 9" or so), and lightweight--something you can literally stick in your back pocket on your way out the door or roll up and carry under your arm.
As another poster noted, the new device already supports several open formats. If they're smart with their marketing, they'll format a hundred or so classic public domain texts and bundle them for free with the reader.
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I think you meant E-Ink, not E-Link.
Just as with any new technology, the price will come down (see also, VCRs, CD players, DVD players, personal computers, etc). As the parent noted, the true innovation here is E-Ink. E-books still have a number of hurdles to overcome before they begin to compete wholesale with paper books, but arguably the biggest obstacle was replacing digital displays with something that immitated ink on paper and could be read easily in full light. I was dismayed but not surprised to see that the physical design of this new generation of e-books is still rigid and boxy. An obvious next step is to design a reader that is flexible, small (6" x 9" or so), and lightweight--something you can literally stick in your back pocket on your way out the door or roll up and carry under your arm. As another poster noted, the new device already supports several open formats. If they're smart with their marketing, they'll format a hundred or so classic public domain texts and bundle them for free with the reader.