I hardly need mention the buzz around ebook devices at CES, the near hysteria about exactly what shape the rumoured Apple device might take, who they might be talking to in publishing circles or the speculation about how the Big Three (Amazon, Google and Apple) are squaring up to each other in a battle for the ebook market.

Here at The Digitalist we have barely had time to breathe, let alone react sensibly to this frenzy, but we’d like to point you to thought-provoking, non-biased analysis here and here. And while we all look forward to the Big Reveal next Wednesday with baited breath, you can always read my now already hopelessly out of date revisiting of my Manifesto, commissioned by Peter Urpeth of Hi-Arts. It’s already been suggested I should revisit this on an annual basis, but the way things are going a weekly update might work better.

Kindle currently dominates the US ebook market, and is likely to have a similar impact wherever it goes (Amazon recorded strong profit growth this year driven by the Kindle). The iPhone has a real but still emergent ebook market that will be exploded with the expected arrival of an Apple tablet device next year. And Google has Book Search and the forthcoming Editions, which could rival Amazon and Apple in terms of book downloads. The playing field is set – in her recent presentation Sara has a magnificent analysis of how this field breaks down.

However regarding Google most of the strategic thinking and recent commentary, of which there is acres, has focused on either the legal controversies surrounding the settlement or the plans regarding Editions. Google is seen in terms of discovery and retail. Perhaps, though, there is another story going on here.

Mobile has been the buzzword of ereading in 2009; you practically can’t turn around without being hit over the head with another statistic about how many people have smart phones and how mind boggling the potential for expansion is, and how seductively convenient it is to have convergence on one handy device. Moreover we’ve seen the maturing of the space – Stanza, Scroll Motion’s Iceberg and Eucalyptus are all excellent readers, there is a healthy Books chart on the App Store and fine developers like Missing Ink Studios and Enhanced Editions are beginning to truly prise open the potential for books on a phone.

So it all looks great. Only, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s all on the iPhone. And all of sudden people are making noises about the iPhone, and not especially pleasant ones. Inevitably when something is successful and universally adored, people will find reason to dislike it. This is just how the world works.

Which brings us back to Google. In the whole discussion of ereading somehow we largely forget about other phones, in particular the Google owned Android OS. My case is that Android has been hitherto underestimated and may end up equaling Apple and Amazon in it’s own right.

Let’s not pretend: if there was an iPhone vs. Android fight right now then the iPhone would win, in terms of users, user experience and reading. To a certain extent this is not Google’s fault as such, seeing as they don’t produce the hardware, marketing or apps for the phones, but still, no one can deny the iPhone remains far ahead. As for other competitors like Windows Mobile, the revamped Nokia with it’s oddly named Ovi Store etc etc in the end they will probably converge with Android due to the sheer madness of proliferating mobile dev standards.  So the iPhone wins, and whats more, with the handsets being unchained from their sole carriers and Apple amassing an eye watering, earth shattering $34bn the growth prospects are very good indeed.

However there are also signs to suggest that Android may start picking up. Firstly it has an inherent ability to grow more widely as it can be used on any number of different manufacturers handsets. Secondly the quality of those handsets is improving all the time – the HTC Hero is gaining traction (Full disclosure: I have one, it’s good but I’ll admit that the 3GS is a bit better) and the Motorola Droid, to name just one other, promises to be massive. Thirdly the App Marketplace remains weak in comparison to the App Store, but is also growing fast, as Google developers and UX people plus a ton of backing make it better, has a growing audience and has none of the problems sometimes associated with the submitting to the App Store. Fourthly, in publishing terms, there has been a dearth of books or reading software on the Android which is only now being rectified. Look at the burgeoning Comics section of the Marketplace and Aldiko, who want to do for Android what Lexcycle did for reading on the iPhone.

Widespread reading on Android may therefore not be that far away.

There is a further strand to the story. Over the past couple of months it has sometimes felt the trickle of new reading devices has morphed into a full on flood. It’s impossible to keep up – everyday Engadget runs a new story on some boutique new ereader. Amidst this torrent however a few things have become clear. Phones were touted as good reading devices because they came with multi-functionality and it was assumed people only wanted a single device for all their communication and media needs (to speak in press release jargon). From here the idea of the tablet or the multi use e-ink mixed display gained traction.

In order to make the devices better people needed a robust, web friendly operating system and quietly waiting in the wings was Android. Witness just two of the recent crop of readers, the Nook from Barnes & Noble and the Alex from Spring Design (currently locked in a legal battle). Both use Android as their OS, and this is just the beginning (there are other examples). Needless to say that Android has the potential to become the default operating system for many readers, and is a strong candidate for being the OS that eventually becomes dominant for reading. Google could end up with a hefty share of the mobile reading and tablet device reading markets, initially in terms of software but who knows, maybe one day even in hardware.

Ultimately Google could be in a position where everything in the book chain, from finding the book on GBS to producing the object you hold in your hands, is part of its empire.

Balanced against this though are the other two big beasts, both unquestionably expert and successful in their fields who no doubt will fight their corners with tenacity and elan. We shouldn’t forget Android though, nor it’s possible role in digital publishing.

Yet in many ways, other than the blip that was the Kindle 2.0 launch, 2009 has conspicuously not been about the device. Think of Amazon’s recent announcement of an iPhone app; the meteoric rise of Stanza, unbowed by the Amazon play; the emergence of GoSpoken as reading software in there with the carriers and a range of smartphones. Think of the solid sales of the Nintendo DS reading package. This has been a year when buzzwords like mobile and twitter have taken on all comers and seen them left in the graveyard of 2008, not even worthy of a # tag.

New displays, new ways of reading. E-ink seems a remnant of a digital past as much as the future.

However I think we shouldn’t take our eyes off the reading device, and that this will still be a major, if not the only, focus of digital reading.

Why?

Because reading experiences on readers are very good and replicating that on other formats is extremely difficult. As the NYT pictures shows, this is a very healthy space.

There is a problem though. For reading devices to break out into the mainstream, to force their way back into the conversation, they have to become wildly desirably and also achieved a heightened simplicity. This might be sumamrised by saying people need to want them, and then need to be able to use them to a degree that has hitherto not been the case. I want / I can.

Two examples: Apple and Google. When Google first launched the general search engine strategy was to be an overall web portal, with search as one feature amongst a large and complex content menu. Google zoned into search and just search; their design was clean, focused, easy to use, without distraction and solely consumer centric in it’s layout and absence of extraneous content. The number of words on the homepage was, and as far as I know is, ruthlessly limited to avoid clutter and confusion. You can say Google’s growth was driven by any number of factors but only a fool would suggest this effortless interface wasn’t one of them.

Again, the iPod had a phenomenally intuitive control, especially given the bemusing buttons and rollers of it’s competitors (and I should know as I held out for some time, before caving in with a combination of resignation and glee). Characteristic of it’s manufacturer this no doubt has been an enormous boon to the device. Beyond that though the now iconic look from legendary Apple designer Jonathan Ive was what made us want one. The iPod wasn’t just useful, fun etc- it was jaw grindingly desirable.

Usability and covetability. Two principles for world domination.

What strikes me as being the interesting parallel with these two, aside from the the slightly obvious observations just outlined, is that both came from behind. They did not have first mover advantage. Instead they used these design concepts to leapfrog into pole. Indeed, it could be argued that precisely not coming first was an advantage in that it allowed the pair to fine tune their product and get these two crucial areas right.

Going back to the ereader then, I get the sense that we are on the cusp of when useability and covetability collide, uniting in a glorious burst of reading device nirvana. Ok maybe not quite, but once those user interfaces have been tweaked, and once someone like Ive gets there hands on a reading device, they will be back.

Don’t write off e-ink yet.

For me all the rest of the new features are secondary (other than perhaps the voice to speech).  Design is about usability and desirability; ebook readers will be made or broken on these facets and up till now have had a deficit of both.

A better display, more memory, the ability to sync bookmarks etc etc. Fine. What really matters is that the Kindle has moved from being an eccentrically interesting object to own, to being an object that is actively desirable, the difference perhaps between the Microsoft Zune and the iPod. Yes that’s the second time I’ve dropped the iBomb; no, I am not saying this is the (no doubt apocryphal) “iPod moment”.

Just that it’s a step in the right direction, and in device terms at least, that direction is the iPod.

Anyway. There is loads of coverage, as I’m sure you’ve seen: here are reports from Engadget, the Bookseller, the Guardian and Techcrunch.

Seth Godin’s post about how much the movie studios should start charging for digital movie downloads, strikes a chord with me:    

 “It’s important to charge something, because the act of paying fundamentally changes the dynamics of the relationship. The question is this: at the start, is your goal to maximize profit or to build a platform that scales? The fact is that the market is too small right now for the price to matter. What matters is whether you can build an audience that is in the habit of paying you, an audience that wants to hear from you, an audience that you can build a business on.

At fifty cents a rental, all desire for piracy goes out the window, replaced by convenience, ease of use and a clear conscience. More important, entire new services show up, habits are built and the studios end up with a direct relationship with consumers who want to hear from them. If they don’t get greedy at the start.”

However some other views are also emerging. Booktwo points out some negatives. So, for example you can email documents to your Kindle. But you have to email them to Amazon, who then make the comptible, a service that will cost “a small fee”. Plus you have to pay “a small fee” to read blogs. Annoyingly there has also been no announcement on whether the Kindle is Mobipocket/OPS compatible. If its not the then the software, the eBooks, the whole package becomes very proprietary, exclusive indeed and adds to the Tower of eBabel.

Mainstream media as also been picking up on the Kindle- have a look at what the Beeb has to say. Mobileread has a busy forum dedicated to discussing the Kindle. Much of the chat at the moment seems to indicate that while virtually everyone hates the looks, in terms of what it can do its the best eBook reader out there. I even have sneaky suspicion that the looks are so dated, so perverse that in a typically postmodern, ironical way it becomes a design classic. However two questions remain- are people going to want to read in this format, and will they want to do it from a dedicated device rather than one they already have. Teleread reports on a survey on digital publishing which suggests that the device people are most likely to read on (specifically books) is their laptop- no link at the moment as their website is down. It will certainly be very interesting to see how this plays out.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO, has granted an interview to Newsweek in order to promote the Kindle and earlier today it was made available from amazon.com after a press conference in New York. On Amazon they have author endorsements from Toni Morrison to James Patterson; Bezos himself goes on record saying this is the most important thing Amazon “have ever done”. Putting aside the issue of looks, perhaps the most controversial aspect of the device, for just one second, what are the main features?

• Allows users to download and store up to 200 eBooks, with 88,000 being available as of today, direct through the device itself on amazon.com.
• Gives ubiquitous connectivity to the internet via Whispernet, a system devised by Amazon to allow people to download books anywhere anytime.
• Also lets users access web resources like Wikipedia and Google as well as offering a service that sends newspapers (including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post), magazines and blogs automatically to the Kindle.
• Has a 6” e-ink screen, weighs 10.3 ounces and provides 30 hours of reading from one charge.
• The Kindle itself costs $399; Amazon are taking a hit and pricing all NYT Bestsellers and big frontlist titles at $9.99 to build an audience. In addition first chapter downloads will be available for all eBooks free.
• Comes equipped with a keyboard and stylus for note taking; the keyboard also allows for full searchability across all titles.

Perhaps the two most important things on this list are the wireless connection and the pricing policy. Other devices like the Sony Reader or the iRex iLiad have been hampered by their reliance on a physical connection to a computer for uploading new content. The Kindle doesn’t need that- if you’re on a train reading a review, for example, or spot someone reading a book that you like the look of, you can search for it and download it there and then, something you can’t necessarily do on devices that require wi-fi. Access to newspapers/magazines/blogs/websites only increases this usefulness. Secondly Amazon have really demonstrated a commitment to make this work in pricing eBooks at $9.99, as they, not the publishers, are making a loss at this price.

There are question marks hanging over the Kindle. Its looks have been almost universally disparaged; it does not, at this stage, accept open formats; $399 is quite a lot to stump up for a reader and given the range of functionality and characteristically stylish design of the iPhone the Kindle does not offer as many services as it might. Still, the Kindle is a significant step for Amazon and for eBooks, it was three years in the making and over the next few years its features will imporve as its price reduces.