What has happened in the digitization of music and photography will happen to books. At least that’s what Steve Haber, the president of Sony’s digital reading business division says, and he thinks the shift is near.
“Within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content,” he told the Telegraph. To deal with the change, Sony will stick to what they call “immersive” readers to compete with devices such as the iPad that focus on other functions as well.
Is Haber prophetic of the future of ebooks or simply optimistic? Catherine Neilan, Senior Reporter of Bookseller magazine is doubtful. “I’d be surprised if it were true…coming as it does from an e-book manufacturer,” she told Tech Radar.
eBook sales did jump 252% in the first quarter according to
Publisher’s Weekly, but it’s growing from a small base and therefore not absolutely ominous to the print world.
Do you agree with Haber and the ebook camp, or are will we always have more devotees to the printed page?