eBooks are back, according to the NYT. The proliferation of cell phones, Treos, Blackberries et al. has created a demand for reading matter that people can peruse while riding public transport, waiting in grocery lines et al.
Adobe, for its part, has a very nice new eBook reader called Adobe Digital Editions. Built as a rich internet application, it’s a lightweight, elegant (OK, so I’m biased) reader for PDF, XHTML and Flash content (and check out the library of free eBooks while you’re there). Given its architecture, I’d expect Adobe Digital Editions to be showing up on cell phones and other mobile devices in the not too distant future.
Sales of eBooks have doubled in the last year, from $4 million to $8 million, according to the Times: not exactly a gigantic market yet, but the growth rate is interesting.
It’s also interesting that authors, not publishers, seem to be getting a lion’s share of the royalties – so publishers are bumping up prices. A paperback best-seller goes for around $8 at Amazon, and an eBook, despite its incremental publishing cost of nearly zero, goes for $7 to $16. Hmmm… so maybe there will be an indy eBook publishing scene, a la the music biz?
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