E-readers to close book on ink and paper era!

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 29 (AFP): Tablet computers and electronic readers promise to close the book on the ink and paper era as they transform the way people browse magazines, check news or lose themselves in novels. "It is only a matter of time before we stop killing trees and all publications become digital," Creative Strategies president and principal analyst Tim Bajarin told the news agency. Online retail giant Amazon has made electronic readers mainstream with Kindle devices, and Apple ignited insatiable demand for tablets ideal for devouring online content ranging from films to magazines and books. In 2011, digital books earned about $3.2 billion in revenue, an amount that the combined momentum of e-readers and tablets is expected to triple to $9.7 billion by the year 2016, according to a Juniper Research report. Readers are showing increased loyalty to digital books, according to the US Book Industry Study Group (BISG). Nearly half of print book buyers who also got digital works said they would skip getting an ink-and-paper release by a favourite author if an electronic version could be had within three months, a BISG survey showed. "I'm among those who believe that the new e-book craze expands a person's interest in reading overall," said Gartner analyst Allen Weiner. "When you can get someone excited about reading in any way, you turn on the reading ignition and it leads to all content," Weiner said, adding that ink- and-paper works will continue to hold a place in the mix. Weiner expected hardback or paperback books to be preferred in some situations, such as home reading, even as digital dominates publishing.