Archive - June 30, 2014

The E-Reader Death Watch Begins By Jordan Weissmann, Slate Tech writers have begun rolling out their eulogies for the humble e-reader, which Mashable has deemed “the next iPod.” As in, it’s the next revolutionary, single-purpose device that’s on the verge of being replaced by smartphones and tablet computers. Barnes & Noble is spinning off its Nook division. Amazon just debuted its own smartphone, which some are taking as a tacit admission that more people are reading books on their phone these days, to the detriment of the Kindle. The analysts at Forrester, meanwhile, expect that U.S. e-reader sales will tumble to 7 million per year by 2017, down from 25 million in 2012. At New York Magazine, Kevin Roose argues that this is “bad news for the book industry.” He writes: If you’ve ever tried to read a book on your phone, you’ll know why. Reading on an original Kindle or . . .