- "By early 2009 there were an estimated 25.2 billion Web pages."
[By the way, if you began building a stack of sheets of regular paper like you'd put in your printer or copier, by the time you had just one billion sheets the stack would be over 66 miles high.] - "...[T]he several hundred million daily searches Google performed in 2003 (today the number is 3 billion)..."
[4 billion/day now, in early 2011? More?] - "By May 2009, Nielsen reported that 230 million Americans had Internet access, 93 percent [of those 230 million, I assume] had high-speed access (broadband) and digital cable service, and 228 million used a mobile phone."
[230 million out of what, are we at 300 million now? I didn't realize Internet access penetration in America was nearly that high.] - "...[A]ccording to a 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), when adjusted for inflation, money spent to purchase books 'has fallen dramatically... Nearly half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure,' the study found, and the percentage of those 18 to 44 who read books was sliding. It is true that the following year, 2008, the NEA reported a modest increase in reading. But if one asked publishers, or educators, whether they had high hopes for the expansion of book reading, few would say yes."
- "According to an Annenberg Center study, the average American family classified as poor spent $180 a month on media services--mobile [does this include voice service or just Internet data?], broadband, digital TV, satellite TV, iTunes, and the like--that did not exist a generation ago, and the average American household spends $260 per month.
[Wow, I'm behind the poor! $75 for two mobile non-smart phones (my wife's and mine, voice and text only), $40 for high-speed broadband Internet, $15 for the cheapest Cox cable TV (analog) available.]
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Reflections on "Googled: The End of the World As We Know It" (by Ken Auletta)
I've just finished reading Auletta's book and couldn't help but noting some impressive facts he cites which you might find interesting as well. For perspective, the book was published in 2009, probably toward the end of that year as he writes of events in mid-2009. Bolding and italics in quoted segments are mine...
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Maybe not for adults, but I predict printed children's books will be going strong from some year's to come. Not every child's parent can afford an iPad. And for the young children for whom picture books are standard, handling a paper book will still be easier and cheaper than an iPad.
For adults, another story. I still prefer a print book. I'm sure I'm not the only one. While I'm sure once I get an e-reader there is a segment of books that lend themselves to it easily. My local public library has stacks upon stacks of romance novels donated to the library. Now that is a genre that could easily go digital and no one would miss it. The thrillers and spy novels that are cranked out like pulp too.
I think there will always be a market for hardback classics. Even if you've read David Copperfield or Ben Hur or Pride and Prejudice before, having a hard copy on the shelf is still desirable. And for sharing, I have lovely copies of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Carol and even Santa Cows for sharing. I think some families still prefer to sit around on Christmas eve and read from a real book rather than someone reading from a Kindle.
Will that change in 50 years? Maybe. But for the next 10 I'm thinking not so much.
Textbooks are a whole other story. They'll go digital faster than we think.
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