Can reading devices like Sony Reader and Kindle really compete with cellphones and smartphones? Will people prefer reading on mobile handsets like the iPhone 3G (with its Stanza Reader) or the T-Mobile G1 (with Google's platform Android and its reader), or will they prefer using reading devices to get a larger screen? Or is there a market for both smartphones and reading devices? These are some fascinating questions for the next years. I personally dream about a big flat screen on one of my walls, where I could display my friends' interactive PDFs and hypermedia stories, when I won't be on a budget anymore. In the meantime, I enjoy my netbook, including to read ebooks.
The next generation of reading devices - expected for 2010-11 - should display color and multimedia/hypermedia content with a revamped E Ink technology.
The company Plastic Logic has become a key player for new products. As explained on its website: "Technology for plastic electronics on thin and flexible plastic substrates was developed at Cambridge University’s renowned Cavendish Laboratory in the 1990s. In 2000, Plastic Logic was spun out of Cavendish Laboratory to develop a broad range of products using the plastic electronics technology. (…) Plastic Logic has raised over $200M in financing from top-tier venture funding sources in Asia, Europe and the U.S. We are using the funds to complete product development in England and the USA, build a specialized, scalable production facility in Germany, and build our go-to-market teams." Plastic Logic intends to launch in 2010 a very thin and flexible 10.7' plastic screen, using proprietary plastic electronics and the E Ink technology.
Reading devices can count on some fierce competition with smartphones. In February 2009, the 1.5 million public-domain books available in Google Books - and 500,000 more outside the U.S. because of variations of copyright law - were accessible via mobile handsets such as the T-Mobile G1, released in October 2008 with Google's platform Android and its reader. Because of the small screens of mobile handsets, the ebooks are in text format, and not in image format. Android is an open source mobile device platform (built on Linux), that was announced in November 2007 along with the creation of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). Other leading companies - Motorola, Lenovo, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, etc. - are working on smartphones that will run Android in the near future.
= The @folio project
The @folio project is a reading device conceived in October 1996 by Pierre Schweitzer, an architect-designer living in Strasbourg, France. It is meant to download and read any text and/or illustrations from the web or hard disk, in any format, with no proprietary format and no DRM. Unfortunately, to this day (in August 2009), @folio has stayed a prototype, because of lack of funding and because of the language barrier - one article in English for dozens of articles in French.
The technology of @folio is novel and simple, and very different from other reading devices, past or present. It is inspired from fax and tab file folders. The flash memory is "printed" like Gutenberg printed his books. The facsimile mode is readable as is for any content, from sheet music to mathematical or chemical formulas, with no conversion necessary, whether it is handwritten text, calligraphy, free hand drawing or non-alphabetical writing. All this is difficult if not impossible on a computer or any existing reading device.
The lightweight prototype is built with high-quality materials. The screen takes 80% of the total surface and has low power consumption. It is surrounded by a translucent and flexible frame that folds to protect the screen when not in use. @folio could be sold for US $100 for the basic standard version, with various combinations of screen sizes and flash memory to fit the specific needs of architects, illustrators, musicians, specialists in old languages, etc.
Intuitive navigation allows to "turn" pages as easily as in a print book, to classify and search documents as easily as with a tab file folder, and to choose preferences for margins, paragraphs, font selection and character size. No buttons, only a round trackball adorned with the world map in black and white. The trackball can be replaced with a long and narrow tactile pad on either side of the frame.
The flash memory allows the downloading of thousands of hypertext pages, either previously linked before download or linked during the downloading process. @folio provides an instant automatic reformatting of documents, for them to fit the size of the screen. For "text" files, no software is necessary. For "image" files, the reformatting software is called Mot@Mot - Word@Word in French - and could be used with any other device. This software received much attention from the French National Library (BnF: Bibliothèque nationale de France) for a potential use in Gallica, its digital library of 90,000 books, especially for old books (published before 1812) and illustrated manuscripts.