Business Insight Zone

It’s good news for me that I’m not in the business of predicting the future — because like most everybody else, I’m lousy at it. But it pleased me to see this post from ReadWriteWeb:

Is the iPhone the Ultimate eBook Reader?

“People don’t read anymore,” said Steve Jobs last month. Try telling that to users of his company’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices, many of whom seem to be using the device as an eBook reader. Our network blog last100 theorized that what Jobs’ really meant was, who needs the Amazon Kindle when you’ve got an iPhone that does a lot more? “Will a developer write an app to read books on the iPhone or Touch?” asked last100’s Daniel Langendorf. Actually, a few developers already have, and at least one is doing very well.

The posts seems to confirm the prediction I made back in August:

Is the iPhone the answer for e-books?

One of these days, Harper or some other publishing house is going to crack this nut. They’re going to figure out — or take a risk to try figuring out — just how many books they can move in electronic format. It’s much likelier to happen on a popular device like the iPhone than on an expensive, standalone e-book reader. The publisher who figures this out will have an audience of commuters, air-travelers, bored people in waiting rooms, and so on who already have the right piece of technology in their pockets, and who only need to be convinced to pay a reduced price for the layout and words of a book without the paper and cardboard trappings.

So, score one for Tim!

My next not-so-radical prediction: Apple will make a bigger version of its iPod Touch that will be even better suited for reading e-books — and many other kinds of browsing as well.

Category: Media, Technology