Never before has reading been so enriching and so has the business of E-readers. With the Amazon’s kindle making a splash this holiday season, the amazing device has not only caught the attention of readers, but the fancy of companies as well, which have engaged themselves in transforming this very basic – rudimentary – device into an experience product. One of the products to make its debut in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week is the Skiff e-reader, a lightweight device with an 11.5-inch full flexible touchscreen that will make it the largest e-reader on the market, beating the 9.7-inch display Kindle DX.
Good news for all e-book readers is Skiff collaboration with Sprint to release a large format e-reader that is designed to support not just e-books, but also magazines and newspapers with their original designs intact. Isn’t that great!
Like all other e-readers, Skiff uses the black-and-white display technology developed by E Ink. But the underlying electronics that power the display has been developed by LG. LG has used a sheet of stainless-steel foil for the back of the display, instead of the glass layer that is the foundation of most e-paper displays available currently. The result is a thinner device that is flexible.
Electronic book readers are the fast growing category of devices and since the launch of Amazon’s Kindle in 2007, a slew of new devices have entered the market. Amazon’s Kindle, became the most gifted item in Amazon’s history. On top of that, sales of digital books for the Kindle actually outsold those of physical books on Amazon this past Christmas Day. About five million e-readers were sold last year, says research firm iSuppli, though Amazon has been tightlipped about the actual sales figures.
The product in itself is in an initial phase, with Amazon Kindle as the most preferred. Companies are still experimenting with the product and trying to push each other to the corner. Skiff represents a challenge to existing (and future) e-readers, including the Amazon Kindle and Kindle DX, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, and a mysterious tablet that Apple may or may not announce later this month. A shakeout seems to be imminent considering the players vying for the space. The big question of price remains unaddressed.