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Open Questions: August 2008

Open Question: Do You Read Books on a Cell Phone?

Mac Slocum
August 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (13) | Listen

Mobile book reading is already popular in Japan and anecdotal evidence suggests it could be catching on elsewhere. I'm curious to see how prevalent phone-based book reading is within the TOC community.

• Have you ever read an ebook on a cell phone? (This doesn't include Kindles, Sony Readers and other standalone e-reader devices).
• Have you read more than one ebook on a cell phone? If yes, how many do you typically read in a year?
• What inspired you to first read books on your phone?
• In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of reading books on phones?

Please share your thoughts in the comments area.

Related Stories:

• Q&A; with Developer Who Turns Ebooks into iPhone Applications
• Ebook Adoption Could Come from Mobile Apps, Not Hardware
• Ergonomics and Ebook Success
• Q&A; with Susan Danziger, CEO of DailyLit
• What Would Your Ideal E-Reader Look Like?

Open Question: Have You Seen a Kindle in Public?

Mac Slocum
August 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (7) | Listen

A flurry of new Kindle guesstimates and analyst predictions has reignited the Kindle number debate (something I'm not fond of). One of the oft-cited arguments is: "How can the Kindle be so popular if I've never seen one in public?"

There are big holes in this line of inquiry, but since it gets raised so often I figured a few device-spotting questions were worth posing to the TOC community:

• Have you seen a Kindle in public? If so, where did you see it?
• Have you seen a Sony Reader or other standalone e-reading device?
• Have you seen more than one e-reader?
• When did you first see an iPod in public? How about a cell phone?
• When did iPods and cell phones transition from public novelties to commonplace items?

Please share your thoughts in the comments area.

Related Stories:

• Kindle Projections, Roadblocks and Sightings
• TechCrunch Reports 240K Kindles Sold
• The Pitfalls of Publishing's E-Reader Guessing Game
• Booksquare: "Random Ebook Thoughts From A Jetlagged Mind"
• Shelf Awareness: The Kindle Controversy -- 'A Sign of What?'

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