With the excitement around the launch of Apple's iPad and the growing popularity of other digital devices, it is a challenge to retain the romance of the printed book, according to the head of publisher Penguin.
The iPad, a cross between a smartphone and a laptop, is helping foster a market for tablet computers that is expected to grow to some 50 million units by 2014, and with it, also expand the market for e-books, which has been hard to crack.
So far, book publishers like Penguin, owned by Pearson, have struggled to find an online model that works successfully in terms of content and the consumer's propensity to pay, said John Makinson on a visit to India.
But with the iPad, book publishers see a new chance to get their electronic offering right and win more bargaining power if the iPad emerges as a viable rival to Amazon' Kindle.
Large screen digital devices are opening up bigger opportunities for us: opportunities for interactivity with readers, and around social networking, said Makinson.
There are opportunities not just in a marketing sense, but for actual content and new material, he said.
Full report here Washington Post
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