James Daunt, the Managing Director of Waterstones, the country’s biggest chain of bookshops said the Kindle ‘has disappeared to all intents and purposes,’ on the back of a 5% rise in physical books for December. Does this spell the end for the Kindle and ebooks?
Of course it doesn’t, as paper books can’t match the Kindle for ease of purchase, a customized reading experience and the quantity and variety of titles it can hold and in any case, I suspect many people who own a Kindle, didn’t get it from Waterstones.
I think the debate about e-books vs paper books often misses the point. Unlike the introduction of the CD when LP’s and turntables were pushed aside and junked to make way for the new technology, owners of ereaders will also buy, read and revere paper books and they will continue to co-exist in an unhappy marriage of convenience for many years to come.
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