1960 console stereo 1970-1990 Component system big knobs 1990s Smaller Bookshelf speakers and so on. Then an iPod.
IBM PC, Compaq Luggable, Laptops, Netbooks, iPads
Deconstruction of publishing. It's a LuLu
Writing, editing, publishing, and delivery of physical or electronic product already happen across a network of individuals and organizations. With publishing on demand or with electronic delivery, writers get closer to readers and disintermediation takes out the monolith. Editors won't "go away".
They'll form a needed guild.
Writers, for that matter, could peer review other writers to drive up the quality. Readers can themselves have a sample of writing and with software like Netflix, the electronic "book" can have recommendations ("You might also like...") based upon your tastes and the tastes of other readers.The iPad and Kindle represent "first pancakes" that are tasty, prove the market and will be improved by the market by Apple, Amazon, and others. Even in these early days, Amazon sold the heck out of Kindles and ebooks this season. Wait till somebody goes Gillette on the "readers", or when the thin screens drop to < $100.
Publishing stalled on console stereo.
Remember Egghead Software Stores? On demand publishing quality keeps getting better, and in five years we'll remember the good old days of that enormous iPad or Kindle and have a few thin "electronic sheets" laying around the house. Xerox PARC looked at "pads" back in the late 80s. Mark Weiser, Scientific American, covered this in 1991. Maybe RedBox adds a printer to their kiosks if you want hard copy.
With the Internet, the inventory can be infinite and benefit from the Long Tail effect. A big publisher will veer away from "Morris Dancing: A Life" but there are enough Morris Dancers to support that kind of niche, and the "book" inventory costs next to nothing. Those shoes though...
Excellent ePub observations from Joe Shuren on DRM etc. and various impediments to Next Big Things.
