Whither the e-book?

An interesting discussion started today on the LinkedIn Digital Publishing Network. From New Delhi, feelancer Devaki Khanna pings a Reuters article that digs into the slow market penetration of the e-book. Commenting from Ireland, Karl Capp, Managing Director at Rolonews Limited, attributes the slow sales to uncoolness and ungainliness, arguing, "As soon as Apple properly address e-readers there will be no hesitation."

Here's what I had to add:

Seems to me that the main delta to overcome here isn't technology, content, cost, sticky branding, or even interface. It's perceived value.

Today you have to pay upwards of a couple hundred bucks to get a basic e-book reader. The price tag by itself is a factor, but the main barrier occurs because people compare this to the cost of a printed book, or even a notebook computer.

Cognitive dissonance: A reader is not a book. Functionally it's so much more. But still. A tablet reader is not a notebook computer. Functionally it's a different animal (it's about display rather than activity). But still.

I think a fitting product analogy to e-readers is the cable modem, the little box needed to get Internet via cable. Initially, when marketed as a purchase extra in a subscription service model, the value was hard to grasp and it was a barrier to entry. But when it was absorbed by the Internet company (subscription provider) as a loss leader, the value delta closed. Today, Internet aficionados can still buy premium cable boxes. But most people get theirs on lease from the cable company and pay a little bit a month for the privilege and don't even notice. The cable companies reap multiples of the purchase price of the modem over time.

My guess is that e-book providers will adopt this model.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Comment I left at Randall Beard's blog in response to the question, "Is the New PR really just the New Marketing?":

PR, marketing – these are professional systems that grew up in the Midcentury era. Today these industries are being reformulated to address the huge Millennial impacts of the web, globalization of media, the resulting emerging markets and consumer behaviors. PR and marketing are big industries that carry water for even bigger industries – the castles of the macroeconomy – P&G, Amex, etc. All that structure does not bend and twist easily.

Yet change is the supreme law of commerce. The methods for generating commerce have always been about whatever works. Today there's more whatever and, as noted in your blog post, the mass media have become more democratic. Whether in response PR is functioning more like marketing or marketing like PR, I see this discussion as a snapshot from the evolving art of persuasion. How do we persuade people to buy in the digital age? My question is, what are the consequences to the PR and marketing industries in changing their definition? How does this affect the way they compete?

Marketing to Millenials

http://www.thedailyanchor.com/2009/01/19/marketing-to-millennials-a-lesson-learned-from-barack-obama/

We are quite a tough crowd to communicate and create loyalty with. See the above article which gives marketers some insight on how to connect with Millenials.