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Today I had a wake up call to remind me about what I already knew – the world is seriously changing. In my view this change is for the better, even though it affects the very fundamentals of life as we know it. Let me tell you a short story …

Over a month ago I became aware that the smart people at 37Signals had written another book and I immediately knew that I would want to read this book as soon as it was released.

On the day of release in the USA I checked if I could buy the book in Australia. It seemed that I could, but further investigation proved that availability in Australia was actually delayed by about 7 weeks. Worse still, the cost of the physical book from a bookshop was going to be slightly more than the cost of the book on Amazon including express courier delivery.

So that’s a first level change … Distribution methods are really changing. Why would anyone buy a book that they know they want from a local bookshop?

So I ordered from Amazon, along with two other books to offset the effect of the freight, and waited for the delivery.

But, unfortunately my credit card details on Amazon were out of date and the expected delivery did not happen.

I duely updated my order, this time saving some money on the delivery by using the USA address of my forwarding agent. But then Easter arrived and I, the last of the immediate satisfaction consumers, faced more delays in getting the ideas of Reworked into my head.

But, before I started penning this post on Easter Saturday morning, I have read the first two chapters of the book which I now own, have not spent a penny on freight, and I have not yet risen from my bed!

So what happened? Well I was reading about the launch of the new Apple iPad which kept on mentioning eBook publication and distribution and I recalled seeing that 37signals had published on Kindle in Europe.

I can’t cut this long story short now, so here is the punchline. About 45 seconds after that realisation, I was reading the book, in bed.

Some time ago I had installed Kindle on my iPhone, so I fired it up, and a few taps later I had connected with Amazon and downloaded the Kindle version of the book for a mere $12 USD.

The purchace experience was seamless and easy, although helped by the fact that I already had an Amazon account (a side note for Amazon … Buying for Kindle is still significantly easier than buying physical product).

Electronic book purchase and reading is an easy, pleasureable process on my iPhone with Kindle. It will be even easier and more natural on the iPad that I will buy on the day it is released to Australia.

And the point about change? By the end of 2010 there will be about 10 million iPad owners, and I suggest, about the same number of people who no longer buy any form of printed documents!

My conclusion, even if you are not in the market for an iPad, you can easily switch to electronic reading with Kindle on your iPhone.

In a few days time I will have three copies (printed) of Jason & David’s book which I will never open. Contact me if you’d like one of them.

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