Company News · June 17, 2009

One Negative Kindle Effect

By Edison Research

I am officially Kindle addicted and find that it has me reading more and reading…well…’better.’ It really has been that kind of transformational device for me.
That said, I’ve been trying to ask myself what all the ramifications of a post-book world will be.
And I thought of a new one I hadn’t read about before: the ability to do market research while walking the aisle of an airplane is going away.
Only a few years ago I would walk down the aisle and see up to a half-dozen people reading The Da Vinci Code. I eventually relented and felt I had to read it too. Many times I’ve seen an interesting cover or been reminded of a book I’ve been meaning to read while on the plane. This will be gone when we are all on our Kindles or other e-reader device.
Doubtlessly, this effect from technological change will lead to some new marketing tool or device to make up for it. Maybe someone will sell a ‘wrapper’ for your Kindle to read while you are reading that book? But I for one will miss this vital source of ‘what to read’ information.

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