About the size of an ordinary paperback, the one-centimeter-thick, 290-gram device became the hottest gift of the season in the US and sent shockwaves through the global publishing industry. Would e-book readers, like the computers, the Internet, electronic dictionaries, smartphones and netbooks that came before it, cut further into the already paper-thin profits of the publishing industry?
這台一公分厚、290 公克重，大小和一本平裝書差不多的電子書閱讀器，可下載並儲存 1,500 本電子書，不但成為美國最熱門的耶誕禮物，也為全球出版業投下一枚震撼彈──電子書閱讀器會不會繼電腦、網路、電子辭典、智慧型手機、小筆電後，進一步分食出版業微薄的利潤？