Creative Zii to Challenge Kindle, Nook
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The e-book reader market is rapidly becoming one big red ocean. The market is still not fully mature in a sense that there is a long way to go before we see an e-book reader that could excite both the average Joe and the early adopters. Nook and Kindle are two good options if you are looking for a new e-book reader. But if you are looking for something beyond them, Creative has good news for you. Creative Zii Mediabook (not to be confused with the Wii or this Zii) is a new e-book reader that is set to take on Kindle and Nook in the near future. Zii is expected to be more than just an e-book reader. It will also allow you to consume video and audio on the road. So it’s a more complete handheld solution for those who want to take more than their books with them on the road.
Zii mediabook will not only handle multi-media content, but it will also come with text to speech, touch-screen capability, and Facebook/Twitter integration. In a sense, Creative is trying to take the e-book reader market to the next level by introducing a hybrid device that is more than just a reader. That’s where the industry going. Make no mistake about it. At the same time, I am not sure Creative is the right company to take it there. Creative mp3 players didn’t have much of a chance against the iPod, and I am not sure Creative can become a major player in the e-book market, unless Zii Mediabook has some secret features that we have not heard about.
There are too many e-book readers on the market. But a lot of them don’t make reading e-books more convenient (which is the main purpose of an e-book reader). There will be hybrid devices in the future, and those devices will have their fan base. But you can’t possibly call a device a Kindle killer or a Nook killer just because they support multi-media files. The good news is that Zii Mediabook will most likely run on Android OS. Zii MediaBook may have a small chance after all.
