Digital Home Thoughts: 18 E-books and Counting

"If I had any doubts that the e-book wars are officially on, my first day at CES dispelled them thoroughly. Note that I said "e-book wars," and not "e-reader wars." That's because there's a tidal wave of E-Ink-based e-readers that are about to hit the US, so that by the second half of this year (at the latest) E-Ink screens will be a dime a dozen."

If I had a nickel for every e-book that is coming out I would be a rich man. It was only a matter of time before e-books become a commodity like your typical computer once Amazon showed that there was a market for them. Though they are definitely improving, I see several challenges. First, as mentioned in ArsTechnica, is the battle for a central site to buy book. Either publishers will have to accept some widespread format so that anyone can sell books, or eventually, there will be just a select few sites to dominate e-book distribution. Second, depending on the price of the e-books, they may face some challenges of longer life netbooks and their variants. With netbooks getting longer and longer battery life, the only advantage that e-books will have left will be a good display, which might not be enough. Only time will tell.