Are electronic book devices in the near future for reading?

The e-book industry has remained a silent secret for almost a decade, but now, due in part to sky-rocketing advertising efforts on Amazon.com, e-books' sales will launch.

Although the book industry and technology have always been tightly linked what with online libraries, web sites, reading lights, and the ability to download documents onto iPods and iPhones, Kindle hopes to introduce a new connection.

Kindle is a wireless device with the ability to display electronic books like any other traditional print copy. The approximated cost is $359; the popularity of the product is credited mostly to Oprah Winfrey, who featured the product on her show, and in part to Amazon.com by analysts.

From the New York Times' article on the subject:

“The perception is that e-books have been around for 10 years and haven’t done anything,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division. “But it’s happening now. This is really starting to take off.”...

 ...“E-books will become the go-to-first format for an ever-expanding group of readers who are newly discovering how much they enjoy reading books on a screen,” said Markus Dohle, chief executive of Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books.

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