Still lookin’ e-book friendly—if it’s real: New OLPC XO-2 mockup?
The mainstream U.S. book industry keeps shrinking rather than reaching out for new markets. Sadly, reflecting turmoil in both the book and newspaper businesses, the Washington Post is killing off Book World as a regular supplement. And this isn’t the best year for the book biz in other countries, either. How to respond?
Long term, some of best juiciest pickings could be in developing countries—where millions in time will start using e-book-capable tablets, smart cellphones and other devices. So, with interest, I’m watching the e-book-related hardware efforts of One Laptop Per Child, which, as in the case of netbooks, could be a stalking horse for Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and other giants.
On the left above, you see the latest OLPC XO-2 mockup, assuming that the image isn’t just a Photoshop job. Slightly different from the earlier one shown to the right, eh? Notice the circle shape at the top of the photo? Is that a WiFi antenna? And now the usual question. What do you think of the ergonomics? Will the hinge-style arrangement get in the way of e-book reading? I doubt it, but some might feel otherwise in the case of textbooks with detailed illustrations. How about a flexible display in the future, a possibility brought up in Ubergizmo?
Related: First picture of an XO-2 laptop mockup in the wild! and First XO-2 mockup spotted at Davos (both from OLPC News).
And speaking of hardware and related trimmings: How Amazon could screw up eBooks, in Computerworld (via MobileRead). CW contributor Mike Elgan lists four ways: “Screw customers waiting for new Kindles,” “Shaft publishers,” “Stay closed” and “Stay expensive.” The clock is ticking, Jeff. The Plastic Logic machine, due early next year with goodies such as ePub, as well as a dedication to an open approach, could blow up your business model. If the Kindle 2 can’t display ePub, you’d better consider it for the 3.
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