Smartphone Archives - Mark Lord's - Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Science Fiction

Despite the fact that many commentators have been quite negative about the new iPhone 4S announcement, I’m actually quite excited! I’ve had my old iPhone 3 for what seems like a century now, the case is battered and scarred, and the innards are as sluggish as my brain on a dark morning! I’m not usually one to get caught up in the hype of Apple’s new launches, but this time I am – but more out of necessity than anything else!

So I’m looking forward to it!

And that Infinity Blade II game looks pretty cool as well – might just be tempted.

Mr Jobs and co., looks like I’ll be first in line come October 14th (virtually on my PC that is I think – never did like Mac computers).

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iPhone 4S pops up on German carrier’s website (news.cnet.com)
‘iPhone 4S’ Rumors Set Lower Expectations for Tuesday Reveal (techland.time.com)
iPhone 5: Only on Sprint? Crazy but might be true, money talks after all. (saintel.wordpress.com)

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Then they will need to come down in price and also be available in more user-friendly readers, such as the Apple Tablet.

This is according to a survey of UK publishers and booksellers carried out by The Bookseller.

I think this has got to be a bare minimum before e-books can seriously gain any penetration in the general trade market.

a) Why would you buy a digital version if it costs more?

b) I am afraid the Kindle/Sony Reader are not really sexy/integrated enough with other media to encourage people to read books electronically for pleasure. I know there are advocates of these devices – but the iPhone phenomenon has neatly shown that specific portable electronic devices are a waste of time – devices need to be multi-functional.

Unfortunately the size of the iPhone counts against it as a serious reading device for more than a few minutes – I’ve tried it – the screen is just too small.

Also why would most sensible, i.e. non-geeks, non-tech industry or publishing people, really want to buy something just so they can read books on it? Duh – there’s books for that!?

I can see e-books happening in a big way at some point in the future, but not yet.

Physical books will always be my favourite I’m afraid – I’ve actually started getting snobbier about it recently – for instance I’m loving reading a special edition hardcover everyman which includes a ribbon bookmark – so much classier than your standard paperback.