NYTimes / November 18, 2009 / Library in a Pocket By MOTOKO RICH and BRAD STONE With Amazon's Kindle, readers can squeeze hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than most hardcovers. For some, that's not small enough. Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets - bringing a whole new meaning to "phone book." [snip] [snip] Over the last eight months, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a range of smaller companies have released book-reading software for the iPhone and other mobile devices. One out of every five new applications introduced for the iPhone last month was a book, according to Flurry, a research firm that studies mobile trends. All of that activity raises a question: Does the future of book reading lie in dedicated devices like the Kindle, or in more versatile gadgets like mobile phones? [snip] But there are already 84 million smartphones that can run applications in the United States alone, according to IDC, a research firm. Apple has sold more than 50 million iPhones and iPod Touches, which both run e-book software. Apple itself doesn't see the iPhone as the ultimate reading device. Next year, it is likely to further stir up the e-book market if, as expected, it introduces a tablet computer - a device bigger than a phone that will most likely run e-reader software along with other programs intended for the iPhone. People once scoffed at the idea of reading a book on a 3.5-inch mobile screen. For many readers, though, sheer convenience trumps everything else. [more] Access To An Excerpted Version Of The Article And The Original Full Text Is Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/y8t8qy3 ] EnJOY! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu There Is No Answer, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace