Kindle Crumbling? - Future eBooks?

There are a few other eBook readers that will be hitting the market this year, but I don't see any of them making a significant market push. The Internet is a big, powerful place, and news travels faster than print ever will. For newspapers, it is all but over; the Internet has taken over the market for news.

I can get instant news feeds on my phone at any time; why bother reading anything in paper? Books have a chance, but it may take a while. The cost of the book electronically isn't enough of an advantage to justify the cost of the Kindle.

The place the Kindle would catch fire is at schools. Anyone that has gone to college recently like myself knows you can drop $1,000 a semester on books pretty easily. Just imagine if you could only drop $200 on books if you get a Kindle, and then load them all up on the device. It's not just your budget that will thank you, either.

Those dreaded classes that were back to back to back not only killed your afternoon, but also your back, carrying three very heavy textbooks around. Now you could throw your Kindle back there with your netbook to go check devhardware.com while at class -- I mean, take notes on your professor's lecture -- and you would be set for the afternoon.

Conclusion

The world is rapidly changing and getting faster. Years ago it took days or even weeks for news to travel; now we are down to minutes. Amazon hopes to create the iPod of books with the Kindle. While some rave about the Kindle, it hasn't caught on as well as hoped.

I'm not sure if it will make it; so far, I would say no, but if they can cut the cost down it may be worth it. What Amazon has that the other readers don't have is an online store which puts everyone else at a disadvantage.

I think it's too early to decide the winner, or if anyone will win with eBooks. Apple has dominated the music market since the iPod was released. For eBooks, however, it looks like Amazon is going to be in for a fight to get its product into readers' hearts and minds.