Happy 2010, Kindle Nation!
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2010 is finally here. From all of us at Exxponent and K.indled, happy new year and may 2010 be a great year for everyone. 2009 was one eventful year for e-book reader fans. Not only we got to see the best Amazon had to offer (maybe it wasn’t the best effort by Amazon but I digress), we also finally saw the rise of another legitimate challenger to Kindle. Let’s not forget about Sony who quietly expanded its e-reader product offerings with Reader Daily, Touch, and Pocket editions.
The new year is going to be even more exciting as Apple is expected to target the reader market with iTablet. Microsoft and Google are also very interested in this market, so there will be more challengers to Amazon Kindle’s throne. Regardless, lets hope e-reader makers keep innovating as the industry still has a long way to go to reach its full potential.
Time for 2010 wish-list. While we got to see some decent innovative e-readers in 2009, here are a few things I would like to see in 2010:
- Color screen Kindle: it’s really about time. Amazon was testing color screen Kindles months ago. Can 2010 be finally the year we get to see those prototypes made into real products?
- Lend Me Enhancements: Nook’s Lend Me feature is truly innovative. While we can forgive some of the small issues with the service, it’d be nice to see other e-book reader makers introduce such a feature.
- Android OS and e-Reader apps: Nook takes advantage of Android OS, but I am not sure the device can handle sophisticated Android apps. Let’s hope e-book readers get to a point where developers can develop real quality apps for them.
- Content Subscription: I don’t know about you but I am a big fan of O’reilly’s Safari Books service. I’d like to see a similar service offered by Amazon or other retailers.
- Real Web: can we finally see real web on our e-book readers? It would certainly be nice to have the ability to check Twitter, Facebook, and other websites on your e-readers without having to jump through hoops.
There is plenty more that e-book reader makers can do to provide more value to their customers. But we are not going to get it all. Let’s just hope 2010 is even better than 2009 for the e-book industry.
