Startup Idea #108: An open source ebook reader for the BOP

I think there is an opportunity to build a cheap ebook reader that comes with a marketplace like Apple's App store for users to sell and buy ebooks and articles. The current price of ebook readers are too high and lacks a marketplace. It also doesn't enhance the experience even though it is digital.

I hope the first market that a cheap ebook reader can reach is the bottom of the pyramid crowd. The kids of the poor have very poor access to information. A cheap ebook reader, with thousands dollars of free content, can be a viable way for them to overcome this.

Furthermore, if we can leverage on mobile kiosks in these countries to allow users to buy additional content through digital means, then we have also created a simple way for the poor to participate in the latest knowledge the developed world has to offer.

Of course, a cheap ebook reader will not only benefit the developing countries. The market for a cheap gateway into the world of written knowledge is going to be huge. Moreover, the market in developed countries might have a bigger appetite for slight higher price reader that enhances the reading experiences. Things like writng notes on your reader and sharing them with your friends who have the same digital ebook. Or taking one paragraph of an article and emailing or bookmarking that straight from the reader.

Some links for you to read and ponder.

A $20 ebook reader:

How to enhance the reading experience

How a startup, with $20,000, build a business on digital photoframe. This shows that we can do a hardware business with low cost.

This is really powerful. Reinventing how books are created and distributed. Similar to how ipod changes how music is created and distributed. It will not be easy but that means less competition as well.

Posted in: education 2.0,startup business ideas