If 2009 was the Year of the Netbook, it's getting to be pretty clear that 2010 is the Year of the Digital Book Reader.
The Kindle and Nook are simple readers with whole bookstores inside them. Indeed, the Kindle has hit on a formula that I think everyone will riff off of (as opposed to exploring other potential biz models).
Now we hear of big magazine publishers exploring layouts that are digital reader friendly. And the amazing BERG worked on a project called Mag+ (video below), showing the future of digital magazines.
It's been really interesting to see the traditional publishing industry drooling at a way out of their downward spiral (being drawn down by their 20th Century biz models). Equally interesting is to see that what was old is new again.
I'm reminded that the early days of the Web was about converting traditional print publications into digital facsimiles. And stretching my memory pre-Web, all this digital book reader talk reminds me of Alan Kay's Dynabook, Jack Scully's Knowledge Navigator, and, my favorite, Hypercard.
So, we're back to creating digital facsimiles of print pubs (albeit better than before). But, when viewing Mag+, I think we could go a wee bit further.
Nah, I don't think we need to turn digital book readers into full-fledged, 'net-connected, hyper-linked information devices (can you say "tablet"?). I'd like to see traditional publishers extend into a third hyper-linked dimension to take advantage of digital formats, rather than just a flat, though pretty, book or magazine. Mag+ does show that, but I am left wanting a tad more.
Yeah, print pubs are mostly flat, but let's not reproduce that flatness in a digital world.
What do you think?
Image from TheCreativePenn
UPDATE 29jan10: Here we go again. The iPad was announced on 27jan. And Venture Beat writes about a company, inkling, that is taking the textbook into the 21st century. Very exciting.
I like that the publishing world is starting to think of content outside of its print-borders/gutters. Just that much of publishing changing these days is good.
Yes, content does need to become a bit more respective to the context and interactive dimensions that usually happen when engaging content – but I’m not sure that they are ready for such an environment. It would look too much like the internet that they already cannot control.
Mag+ is pretty decent of a concept. I like a lot of the ideas that it has towards the presentation and usability of content. Its not much more than a browser that takes a specific kind of markup though, and presents that in a form/field that’s conductive to reading in a manner that’s familiar with how we do with books currently. It should go further, but it wouldn’t have been as acceptable if it did in this stage.