The Rise of Phone Reading
Ever since the first hand-held e-readers were introduced in the 1990s, the digital-reading revolution has turned the publishing world upside down. But contrary to early predictions, it’s not the e-reader that will be driving future book sales, but the phone.
.. Meanwhile, those reading mainly on e-readers, such as Kindles and Nooks, dropped over the same period to 32% from 50%. Even tablet reading has declined recently to 41% in the first quarter this year from 44% in 2014.
.. Through the Foli mobile app, Simon & Schuster in May offered David McCullough’s “The Wright Brothers” free at more than 50 U.S. airports. In June, it served up “Yoga for Life” by Colleen Saidman Yee at the Solstice in Times Square yoga festival in New York. Now the publisher offers free e-books at hotels and airport lounges in New York, California, Missouri, Florida, Texas and Hawaii. Users can read as much of each book as they like free, as long as they stay within the prescribed geographical area.
.. in June introduced a new display option called Lumin that reduces the amount of blue light emitted from smartphone and tablet screens to make reading easier on the eyes at night (its users’ peak reading time).
.. Many report feeling caught off guard when they reach the end of a book. They miss the physical sense of how deep they are into a book—and the feelings of accomplishment and anticipation that come with that.
.. Traveling around the city with his son and daughter, ages 7 and 10, the children often clamor for his phone.
He hands it to them, saying, “No games, but you can read a book.”