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Ever heard of the Amazon Kindle ? How about the Sony Reader ? These devices are called e-book readers, a class of handheld devices equipped with displays that closely mimic paper. Paper you say? With all the those bright and colorful LCD screens, why would anyone want to view anything on a display that’s as bland as paper?

Paper reigns supreme

Well, take a laptop or a netbook with an LCD screen outdoors under broad daylight and see if you can read comfortably from it. No can do? How about bringing out a newspaper or a book instead? Better. Much better.

Now, surely you’ve tried reading an ebook, those lengthy documents on a PDF file, on your PC or laptop. Can your eyes last as much reading from those devices as on a real book? Imagine reading any of Peter Carey’s books in full on both media and you’ll know what I mean.

Until when?

Reading books, magazines, and newspapers are still better done on paper. That was until a technology called e-ink or e-paper came along. That’s the kind of technology that drives the displays on most e-book readers. There are other similar technologies in the industry but they all serve the same purpose: to make displays look like paper.

E-ink has attracted the attention of certain publishers. In fact, the cover of the 75th edition of Escquire magazine was produced in e-ink. So, not only are we seeing e-book readers, we’re actually seeing the possibility of publications headed towards this direction.

Is ink in trouble?

What does that say for ink and all the other related industries for that matter? How about cartridges? Well, let’s look at it this way. How much does a reader cost? We’ll not bother with the magazine thingy since it obviously was just a marketing ploy. Otherwise, you would have been seeing succeeding copies produced on e-ink already. Going back to the price of an e-book reader. Let’s start with the most popular; the Amazon Kindle. Kindle 2 is currently priced at $359 USD. That, by all counts, is nowhere near what one might call inexpensive.

Let’s take some examples. When a teacher prepares some exams, should she upload it somewhere where students can download them to their readers? How about a businessman submitting a  proposal to his associate? Or an employee submitting his report to his superiors? While there are those who do these submissions electronically through emails, quite a number of people still prefer to read these reports from a printed copy. This holds true especially for reports that are quite lengthy.

Until the price is brought down to levels that are competitive with the formidable tandem of ink and paper, these products will be nothing more than novelty gadgets for those oozing with extra cash. And at financially troubled times like this, only few can live up to that moniker.