Engadget has an opinion article Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms. It discusses a debate at Engadget headquarters on if the latest generation of ebook readers are going to be a hit. Specifically if suburban mom’s are going to start buying them in mass. The article has some great discussion on current technical issues with ebook readers. It does however miss one crucial point. As far as I can tell no one involved in this debated talked to a suburban mom about what she thought.
While it pains me to admit this I think my minivan, 2 kids, 2 cats, white picket fence, etc puts me square in the suburban mom category. (I fought that minivan kicking and screaming all the way to the dealer… but that’s another story.) So first, I agree with the author. Suburban moms are not going to suddenly flock to dedicated ebook readers. However I have to totally disagree with his reasons why. Sure cheaper prices and nice features will always make a product look better then another product but they are by no means the gate for your normal suburban mom.
Let’s put this in perspective with a story of when I’d need an ebook. It’s out running errands if both kids fall asleep in the car or some other major life miracle occurs. (At this point the world might be ending so the ebook may suddenly seem less important.) To get out the door I’m going to be balancing:
- a 1y old
- a 4y old
- overflowing diaper bag
- reusable grocery bags with at least 2 fragile returnable glass milk jugs
- the shoe half on one foot
- the coat the 4y old refused to wear
- the coat I never had time to put on
- the preschool field trip notice form I grabbed at the last minute with my pinkie finger
At this point I have about a 90% hit rate of remembering and fitting in my iphone. A larger dedicated ebook reader? It’s just not going to happen. It’s already lost because:
- It’s too big. Think tiny tiny corner of the diaper bag. Think iphone hidden stealthily in one hand so 4y old doesn’t see mom reading cool toy versus larger ebook reader not hiding at all.
- It’s too fragile. One water bottle leak or curious 1 year old and my iphone is toast. Would I actually be crazy enough to put two pieces of expensive, fragile electronics next to each other?
- It’s too forgettable. I can barely remember a cell phone that contains the grocery list, directions, etc. The chance off remembering anything single use? Slim!
Case in point, I have a lovely amazon kindle sitting in a drawer. My husband uses it for business trips. I read my last ebook on my iphone in 200 little increments when I could sneak in the time. The kindle was never touched.
Basically, until a dedicated ebook reader can be folded up into the space of a 5×5 deck of cards, thrown like a baseball, bounced off a concrete floor, and pop back into my hand working it’s not going to hit the suburban mom market. Not when my iphone can do the same thing and there’s a chance my daughter might not notice that mommy is having a moment of me time.
Thank you to TechMama for first tweeting about the original article.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You bring up some good points. But I don’t have an iPhone, I have a BlackBerry and don’t read books on my smartphone. I do carry around a netbook, so I do wonder if more moms will adopt netbooks and e-readers. Funny – the moms that have iPHones seem to use that for more functions. I know that I need a physical keyboard for typing and like the screens of e-readers better then smaller phones. I agree that moms would not “flock” to something only because it is cheaper – moms look for functionality first!
Welcome TechMama and thank you for commenting.
Interesting, one thing I thought of after I typed the post is would my opinion be different if my kids were older. If I was back to purse instead of diaper bag and didn’t have to worry about sudden destruction. However I think in that case I’d just go back to carrying either a real book or a laptop. If I could budget the expense to buy a netbook then that actually sounds ideal, but still I don’t think a dedicated eReader. Not when so many similar things can do so much more.
On a side note my iPhone is the very first PDA/smartphone like device that has ever worked long term for both myself and my husband. All the others we’ve tried in the past were fun toys for about a month but then just didn’t “work”. With the iPhone I actually use the online calendar on the go, probably cause it’s linked to my google calendar. I agree typing on it isn’t ideal so no long emails, but for quick on the go communication, data searches, etc it really clicked. I even text occasional, something I almost never did on a regular phone.
I think having an ereader is a function of how much you actually read. Even though I have 2 kids, one is 7 and the other is nearing two, so I have actual time to read. I do read for several hours a day. I’ve had a Kindle for over 2 years now and I can barely stand to read a regular book anymore. They are heavier, much less portable, and less easy to read in general. Talk to anyone who’s had one for a while who reads a lot and you’ll hear the same sort of dedication.
Your objections sound reasonable if you don’t read more than 20 minutes in a row, which you likely don’t with two little ones closer in age.
Star – You do have a point that age of child matters a lot. It’s been a year since I wrote that and I’d have to disagree (partially) with myself. I still don’t carry around an eReader… but that’s just because I now carry around my iPad. It’s even bigger and bulkier but I can read things on it in the dark and surf the web. So I guess I’m willing to handle big and fragile… but only if the pay off is big enough. (But sadly during the day I still don’t get time to read much
)