Opinion: Is it time to close the book on e-readers?

Computerworld - Sony Corp. has released its long-discussed e-book reader and launched an online bookstore, which raises far more questions than it answers. From where I sit, the answers to those questions aren't very positive for Sony.

The questions include: Is this the future of books and, potentially, periodicals, or is it yet another in a long string of failed attempts to create interest in e-books? And can Sony replicate Apple's wildly successful proprietary ecosystem with its tightly matched iTunes online music store and iPod hardware? Or, to boil down both questions to their nub: Will anybody care?

Sony said it will link its e-book reader to its Connect bookstore, which initially is offering 10,000 books from a number of large publishers. More titles will be added over time, but neither the store nor the e-book reader will handle newspapers and magazines, at least for now.

E-books are an old idea that has been tried numerous times by many vendors, including Franklin and Palm. So far, the idea has met with indifference from consumers, and it's hard to see why Sony will succeed this time.

One big reason for the indifference is that a compelling argument has never been made that e-books offer significant enough advantages to justify the price -- in Sony's case, $350 -- for the hardware in addition to the price of the books. Sure, you can carry around lots of books on a single device, search contents and have electronic book marks and the like. But are those $350 worth of benefits?

In addition, Sony seems intent on copying Apple's proprietary scheme in which an iPod works only with iTunes. You can't download music from any other music service to an iPod, although you can rip your CDs to the device. But online music distribution was a relatively new idea when Apple launched iTunes in 2003; e-books aren't a new or particularly exciting idea now.

Sony is obviously betting that, like Apple, it will have a first-mover advantage, since all previous e-book vendors are either out of the business or have scaled back significantly. But book readers are a much different (read much older) demographic than online music consumers, and they won't be as easily wowed by this technology, particularly since there is no quantum advantage. It's hard to imagine a television ad in which a bespectacled e-book reader is dancing around. And without that wow-factor, e-books are a hard sell.

Another problem for Sony is that Apple's first-mover advantage wasn't the only reason it succeeded. It helped that it developed an elegant device that appealed to a youthful demographic that loved the idea of being able to carry hundreds or thousands of songs in a pants pocket. However, Sony's reader, at 6.9 inches by 4.9 inches by 5.8 inches, will have a much larger footprint, meaning it won't be nearly as sexy as an iPod. You'll need to stow this device in a briefcase or purse.