This piece describes just how technology influences content, not the other way around. This is especially true for books in the coming months.
E-ink technology was all about displaying books as we’re used to them in a digital format. I say “as we’re used to them” because of the whole non-backlit, works fine in sunlight aspect of the technology, which are important considerations to make if you’re trying to replace books.
But with the torrent of e-ink devices literally days away, will they change the content? Probably not. Will they even change the way the content is delivered to you? Also probably not: the 3G, always-on delivery model that Amazon introduced with the Kindle is almost expected at this point. So the way the content is displayed is the same and the way the content is delivered is the same.
Where ebooks and ereader devices can truly make themselves stand out is how they enhance the book, how they take it further. More and more devices can do annotations and highlighting. These aren’t a feature.
Yet.
If we can take these features and make them more powerful, more accessible, then we’re beginning to change the way people use content. Only then can content be expected to change.
That’s all I’m allowed to say about that. Very, very exciting stuff.
