With summer nearly over, the family and I squeezed in a week in the heat of Catalunya, España otherwise known as Catalonia, Spain. It was lovely: 30 C and sunny every day compared with 15 C and lashing rain back home in Northern Ireland as the tail end of hurricane Ernesto passed over. And if that wasn’t enough, the pastries from the patisserie next door to the hotel were amazing.
As I lazed on my sun lounger in between laps of the pool, I took the opportunity to check out the tech of my fellow tourists. Lots of smart watches and activity trackers from the likes of Apple, Fitbit, Samsung and Garmin, but what was noticeable in their absence were e-readers – I didn’t see a single Kindle, Nook or Kobo. There was still plenty of reading going on, but people were using phones, tablets or traditional paperbacks.
Thinking about it, I’m not terribly surprised. A couple of things have contributed to the slow demise of e-readers (and I’d definitely distinguish that from e-books which are still going strong). First, the screens on smartphones and tablets have become so much better. Ten years ago, you would have struggled to read in strong sunlight but now the brightness of the displays copes well. Secondly, smartphone screens are bigger with a better resolution and colour. My Nook has a 6″ ePaper display versus my OnePlus 10’s 6.7″ AMOLED. It’s not just my observation either. Statista reports that in 2024 only 12% of people in the US own an e-reader, whereas in 2014 the figure was closer to 32%.
Unless you buy into the Amazon Kindle ecosystem, the booksellers haven’t done themselves any favours. My main reader is a Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light from 2012 and I’ve an original Nook (the one with the colour display along the bottom) that still works fine although the battery life’s a bit short. My biggest bugbears are that devices are becoming unsupported – you can’t buy digital content on device anymore and new PCs don’t recognise the e-readers when connected via USB. And don’t get me started on Adobe Digital Editions, which last saw major update in 2016 and has largely only received security fixes since then. It pains me (and my wallet) to buy a new device because of unnecessary obsolescence and corporate laziness.
The big benefit of an e-reader is not only the e-paper but also the lack of distractions. On my phone or tablet, there are always notifications coming in from other apps to divert your attention. Yes, there’s the “Do Not Disturb” setting but you do need to remember to turn it on. You need that peace to get into a book, though children yelling from the pool don’t always allow that either.
E-readers aren’t completely standing still. There are two innovations that have popped up recently: colour screens and Android OS. E-readers such as the Kobo Clara Colour offer a colour reading experience and Boox has e-readers with Google Play. They’re based on Android 11 or 12 but the opportunity to use any app (Kindle, Overdrive, Libby) for reading is powerful and brings much greater ease of use, hopefully without the distractions of a tablet. I suspect my next e-reader will be from Boox.
These innovations could see a resurgence in e-readers but with the cost of living going ever upwards, I feel that people will stick with what they have.
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