Page 169 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

150 5 Innovative EC Systems: From E-Government to E-Learning, Knowledge Management, E-Health, and C2C Commerce

e-newspapers (including international ones), and other digi-
tal products. All are cheaper than the hard-copy version (e.g., • Instant delivery via downloads from anywhere. The
new release books may cost $10 or less). There are many free tablet-based models provide you with many of the
e-books as well (e.g., free-ebooks.net and onlinebooks. capabilities of other types of mobile computers.
library.upenn.edu). • Portability—they go where you go.
• Easy integration of content from several sources.
Devices for Reading E-Books • Durability—they are built stronger than a tradi-
tional book (but they can break if you are not care-
The major device used to read an e-book is an e-reader. Most ful). Also, readers tend not to lose them (again, you
e-readers are lightweight (about 10 ounces) and are conve- need to be careful).
nient to carry. The major e-readers and tablets are listed and • Ability to enlarge the font size for easy reading and
compared at the-ebook-reader.com. to add light if needed.
Several other aids are available to help readers who want • Media rich (audio, color, video, etc.).
to read a large amount of material online. For example, • Minimal cost for printing out a hard copy.
Microsoft ClearType (microsoft.com/typography/Clear • Good readability in bright sunlight (able to read
TypeInfo.mspx) and CoolType from Adobe (adobe.com) books outdoors).
can be used to improve screen display, colors, and font sizes. • Easy updating of content.
Glowing screens can help you read in the dark (e.g., Kindle • Almost no wear and tear.
Touch and the Kindle Fire have a built-in light). • Easy to find out-of-print books.

Combining E-Readers and Tablets
The primary advantage that e-books offer publishers is
The trend today is to combine e-readers with tablet comput- lower production, marketing, and distribution (shipment)
ers as was initiated with Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The 7-inch costs, which have a significant impact on the price of books
portable devices allow people to read books, magazines, and (e-textbooks are about 50% cheaper than print versions). Other
documents, and listen to audio books. Users can play games, advantages for publishers are lower updating and reproduction
listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, and much costs, the ability to reach many readers, and the ease of com-
more. Kindle has Internet access via Wi-Fi, so social net- bining chapters from several books to create customized
work access and e-mail is also available. Finally, with textbooks, so professors can use materials from different
Amazon’s Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, Kindle owners books (usually by the same publisher) in one course.
who have Amazon Prime can choose from a selection of Finally, the light weight of the tablet can eliminate the
hundreds of thousands of books to borrow, for free with no back pain that people, especially school children, have from
due dates. carrying backpacks full of heavy books.
Note: Tablet manufacturers also offer a combination of Of course, e-books have some limitations: They require
e-readers and tablets. The difference is that e-reader-based hardware and software that may be too expensive for some
products such as Kindle Fire have less computing capabili- readers; some people have difficulty reading large amounts
ties, while tablets such as iPad have a less capable e-reader of material on a relatively small computer screen; batteries
and are more expensive. may run out; and there are multiple, competing software and
hardware standards to choose from, confusing the buyers.
Advantages and Limitations of E-Books Several of these obstacles may lessen in time.

For e-books to make an impact, they must offer advantages to A Final Note: Is This the End of Printed Books?
both readers and publishers. Otherwise, there would be little
incentive to change from traditional books. Indeed, e-book According to Amazon.com, in 2011, the sales of e-books on
sales are exploding due to the following advantages: their site considerably exceeded the sales of hardcover and
paperback books. (See nytimes.com/2011/05/20/technology/
20amazon.html). By 2014, e-book sales surpassed the sales
• Ability to store hundreds of books on a small mobile of paper-based books. (For all publishers.) However, accord-
device. (External storage can hold much more.) ing to Nuwer (2016), sales of e-books have plateaued.
• Lower cost to buyers. The simple e-reader model Despite the limitations, e-books have become very popu-
costs less than $75; the tablet-based less than $200. lar, especially due to sophisticated e-readers. For example,
• Searchable text—you can show links and connect even the Harry Potter books are now available in electronic
easily to the Web. format and they are not encrypted, so that readers can move
the books between mobile devices and even to a PC. For