Donald Graham, Chairman & CEO, The Washington Post Company
Talk from the perspective of a reader, even though a publisher. When first saw a Kindle, on the first day it was released, ordered one. Reading intensely all his life and developed a set of preferences he didn’t understand. Owning a Kindle, one becomes aware of what is the same and what is different between the device and traditional format. Hooked immediately. Books created the Renaissance. Publishing hasn’t changed much since Gutenberg. The Kindle was an enormous step because can read material that can access no other way. Kindle solved, neatly, a problem most readers know: small type. Ability to use larger type is extremely important. Within a year saw evolution of ability to get really and truly out of print books. Easier to access to great literature on Kindle than in any bookstore. iPad is multi-function device but he looks at it and thinks about reading. An enormous amount of reading will take place on tablets. We are almost like the contemporaries of Gutenberg because we are present at the start of something very big.
