A sign of the times: year for the e-Book

In the lead up to Christmas, presents for other people are usually on my mind.
Oddly though, with all my Christmas shopping for 2008 done, I have already find myself thinking about Christmas in 2009 - and beginning to wonder if 2009 will be the year in which e-books and e-readers; go mass mainstream.

The New York Times seems to think it may be so in an interesting article I found on the impact e-books have made in the past year - the big news of the year down to the Amazon Kindle… and Oprah who after praising the Kindle on her show (and proving how she has become the most influential woman in the world) appeared to instantly boost the profile for the Kindle and the entire e-book industry.

Intriguing to me was the demographic for the early adopters:

Many Kindle buyers appear to be outside the usual gadget-hound demographic. Almost as many women as men are buying it, Mr. Hildick-Smith said, and the device is most popular among 55- to 64-year-olds.