Attack of the killer eBooks?

Amazon claims that they are selling more eBooks than physical ones—at least those in hardcover format. With the extensive variety of eReaders available to the public there has been an explosion in the digital market. The question is, will these trends continue until eBooks have completely taken over?

In today’s society we are used to receiving information as quickly as possible, so the ability to download eBooks immediately is attractive. However, availability is limited because a lot of paper books aren’t in digital format. In addition, buying an eReader is quite expensive ($189 for a Kindle 3) so it will take a while before buying the lower-priced eBooks pays off.

There is also something about the feeling of holding a physical book that can’t be duplicated by a digital device. So unless prices drop dramatically and more eBooks are available, I don’t think there will be a takeover any time soon.

Source: Schroeder, S 2010, Amazon: E-books Will Overtake Paperbacks by the End of 2011, viewed 21 August 2010