eBooks And Possibly Paying Taxes On Devices To Read Them

We believe that Amazon is doing quite a number on the number of eBooks since the Kindle came out. It's not sure just how the shift away traditional to digital copies has resulted with the number of ebook readers on the market. After stating they've sold 2 million iPads, Apple said 5 million books have been downloaded.

It's not known how many of those are free and what the percentage of the iPad owners have downloaded iBooks, Apple's dedicated ebook app reader. Still, it's quite impressive. Personally, I can't wait to see how much more growth Apple, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble can generate through 2010.

Barnes And Noble's Nook is a popular device and I imagine the bookseller, which based it on Android OS, will expand its usability and entice more people to its popular platform for reading. Recently, BN updated the Nook for Web browsing and added games as well.

Of course, it'll be a while before the Kindle and Nook matches the iPad in its multi-use and ecosystem. Therefore, I'm looking for near-term growth in ebook consumption from additional iPad sales and sales of other tablets running on Android and Windows through 2011. As of now, I'm not seeing the love from Amazon and Barnes and Noble on my G1. Plus, we'll see Google get into the game soon.

Taxing your iPad and Droid. During a brainstorming session, one of the "brilliant" (lots and lots of sarcasm here) idea is to tax mobile devices to save the print industry. Absolutely brilliant. Of course, some EU nations tax music players to save the music industry there.

Furthermore, Rassmussen Reports released some polling results showing very little support for this concept. So, tax devices that people when they exercise but, wow, don't tax our sugared and other high-calorie snacks. Brilliant guys.

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