7Prime's Journal: What is required for an eBook to succeed?

In the wake of the Amazon Kindle, the possibilities of an "eBook world" seem ever closer. However, some major oversights may likely keep the Kindle from being the device to win the hearts of the reading world. In various interviews, including one on PBSs Charlie Rose, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos seems to have his head in the right place, but the actual product doesn't seem to quite meet the philosophy he tries to represent. A successful eBook needs to evaluate the big picture a little more than the Kindle has.

First, design. Let's face it, all readers, world wide, have grown up holding paper books. We are comfortable with this, we are used to it. Maybe 30 years down the road, after the entire population has been "curling up" with eBooks for a few decades, will a "Tricorder"-like device feel comfortable, but not yet. For now, we're going to need a bit of hand-holding, a bit of prodding and ingenuity in order to ease the reading world into switching to these devices. The first widely successful eBook needs to feel, and operate, even if superficially, like a traditional book. It likely will need to have two folding screens, and be encased in a material that is pleasant to hold: possibly even a leather or vinyl covering. Electronic paper displays will make the experience much more conventional. Any buttons need to be visually and tactilely invisible during the course of reading (touch screen, most likely). We're going to need to be tricked, at least for a while, into feeling like we're reading an old-fashioned book. All that extra high-tech functionality must disappear during the reading experience.

Secondly, infrastructure. Reading books isn't just about information gathering. There's a community aspect, and an aesthetic one as well. Libraries and bookstores have, forever, been more than just information repositories; they're communal and aesthetic locales. Barnes & Nobel has figured this out. Each store offers a partially secluded area with comfy chairs and a fireplace. It works so well, that many people go there to read even if they don't purchase anything there... but you can bet that their next book purchase will be from there. If I were to walk into a traditional bookstore with a Kindle, I'd be a heretic. So a widely successful eBook needs to offer an alternative to the traditional community experience. And it can. For example, an eBookstore: within the confines of which, any eBook can be downloaded and read for free, and offering places to sit, along with food and drink, as well as a pleasing aesthetic ambiance. This may not require a new chain of bookstores, but traditional bookstores, themselves, should be approached to allow themselves to be eBook repositories. Without sounding morose, I think it's clear that an eBook revolution is inevitable, and the end of the paper book is an eventuality, and bookstores, if they wish to continue to exist, should embrace the most genuine of eBook technologies, and play a direct role their evolution.

I believe these are the biggest hurdles in front of eBooks, today.