Archive for the ‘Smart Phones’ Category

Smartphone or e-reader?

iPhone, Pre, Blackberry or Android?

Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook?

The answers to those questions will tell us a great deal about the future of news media. The first is the most significant: Will consumers start using applications to read books and newspapers more easily on their handsets, or will they drop $250 or more on a digital e-reader like Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s Nook? This question is important to newspaper execs, because Amazon has had some success getting consumers to pay a nominal amount (typically $6 or so per month) for the convenience of getting the news on their devices. This, of course, can be a source of badly needed revenue for the newspapers.

After leaving my own Kindle at a hunting lodge last weekend, I decided to experiment with the free Aikido reader, which allows me to read books on my Android. I downloaded a copy of Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol in .epub format, and I have to say it’s an entirely satisfactory way to read a book. Similar apps, including an Amazon Kindle reader, are available for the iPhone.

Keep in mind, too, that all of the handsets — including the Blackberry — can easily access virtually any newspaper online. The Android even has a Newspapers app that links the reader to online versions of more than 60 newspapers.

It’s hard to tell much about what consumers are buying for Christmas just yet. Barnes & Noble is already sold out of the Nook and won’t fill any new orders until Jan. 15, but their holiday offering seemed to be a rushed-up, last-minute effort anyway, so they may not have had that many units to sell.