Here in the U.S. of A. “the focus for the future of e-reading has been primarily on the larger format, dedicated e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad.”
But what about in other parts of the world, “where dedicated devices have been slow to come to market,” or where, due to economic conditions, a device that exists just to read e-books remains an absurd luxury item?
Edward Nawotka, editor-in-chief at Publishing Perspectives, says that the answer is the cell phone. Already priced to be affordable, and with Internet access becoming “nearly universal,” cell phones are already in use around the world and are poised to become (some already are) mini, affordable, multifaceted e-readers.
So the question publishers should be asking themselves right now is: “Are phones, in the long run, more important than e-readers to the future of global book publishing?”
