Philips recently had a Simplicity event,where they showcased a number of concept products that may or may not make it into the real world in the future.
To go along with the event,Philips also setup a voting board for a number of discussion topics. One of the topics currently under discussion is whether e-books are a good idea. You can pick a side and argue out your position or vote on the arguments of others. At the end of the discussion (3 weeks from now),the results are summarised,based on the vote counts.
I have added my opinion to the forum and pointed to the TeleRead hosted copy of my article on the issue and I invite you to join in the conversation either at Philips forums or in the article’s comments area for your view on the situation.
I believe that the more interesting functionalities we can point out now,the more likely they will be incorporated into the future e-book design. Waiting until e-books are avialable,will lead to those design having just some of the advantages of a paper book,but all the disadvantages of an electronic device.
In fact,Sony’s e-book reader seems to have proven that point already. It does not even seem to have dictionary lookup,something most of the handheld e-book readers provide.
