2010, the year of the e-book?

Writing in Australian Personal Computer David Flynn asks Will 2010 be The Year of the e-Book? (No longer online).

He looks at material from tech analyst firm Gartner which says e-books will boom next year so long as they: “Overcome hurdles in price, availability and lack of popular mainstream content”.

Valid points, but there also needs to be a great leap forward in display technology for e-books to displace printed books. The current crop of electronic books are tiring to read when compared with print.

Higher resolution, large format, non-flickering, non-backlit displays are available, but not in the numbers needed and not, yet, at a realistic price. After years of looking at other forms of electronic books, it's reasonable to say that once e-book makers overcome this hurdle, they’ll be mainstream.