Here is a great article we came across about physical vs. digital reading:
Physical versus digital. Are you willing to pay more without the paper (and the smell)?
Yes, Amazon said last week that they’re selling millions of Kindle Fire tablets and Kindle e-Readers, so, more Kindle users means more eBook buyers. Barnes and Noble also enjoyed “millions” with its Nook Color, and its latest Nook Tablet Android-based device sporting the still cheaper $249 price. But here’s the problem of eReader owners, the prices of digitalized books are going up, while the printed books prices are going down.
The trend started last year, according to a New York Times article. Kindle, iPad and other eReader owners say the eBooks should be much (plus another “much”) cheaper with than print books largely due to the fact that publishers do not have to pay to print, cut trees and distribute the heavy books to brick and mortar stores.
Fast forward to 2011, the “e-books vs price vs demand vs supply trend” is continuing, and prices of eBooks are reportedly going up because book publishers have decided to set their own e-book prices.
For example, Walter Isaacson’s hit book “Steve Jobs” (hardcover) is currently priced at $17.49 in Amazon.com, while the Kindle version of the book is currently flaunting the $11.99 price tag. A total of $5.50 savings, but you’ll not experience the smell of the new book, the texture of the pages, and — the weight of the hardcover.
According to a Wall Street Journal article posted last week, the continuous increase in the prices of electronic books may already be hurting sales, and sadly, the price movement will continue despite the number of available e-books in multiple retailers, and the continuous growth of tablet computer and e-reader owners.
The Kindle Fire, despite its tablet nature, is a hot device that will surely boost the e-books sales. Apparently, the Kindle Fire is cheaper compared to the iPad and other Android-based tablets, but what is the point of buying a cheap tablet computer if you’re a heavy e-book buyer?
The point is this, Amazon and other e-book retailers wants to sell cheap e-books because it will attract more customers. Period.
http://www.popherald.com/tech-news/kindle-fire-ebooks-and-the-paper/2011/12/