Steve Jobs can be such an a**hole sometimes.
According to Gizmodo, he said about the Amazon Kindle:
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore… The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
Hey, Steve, ever think that your iPods are part of the reason why fewer people are reading? People used to read books on the bus, now they just listen. Why not show some societal responsibility and bring some of that trademark Apple coolness to something that drives intellectual development, so your next generation of customers will be able to get jobs that let them afford to buy iPods.
See also: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/january#thu-17-nyt_jobs
And then, of course, there’s this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Having used the Books app for the iPod Touch, I have to say that device (and that screen) is a better eBook medium than any cell phone I’ve ever owned.