I’ve recently been reading Charles Stross’s Accelerando, and that, combined with the news that the Google settlement has gotten preliminary approval and the recent offer I got from Verizon for a new phone has made me think that I’m probably going to go for a high-end phone come June or so.
In Accelerando, Stross paints a not-unfamiliar picture of the near to distant future: Technological change continues not just to advance, but to accelerate, aided by ever-faster computers and more and more ubiquitous communication. It’s a pretty fascinating book so far (I’m just about a third of the way through, but my rate of advance, like his technological change, is accelerating), and I’m reminded more than a bit of George Zebrowski’s Macrolife. Both books span a large stretch of human history, but beyond that they both stress the interconnectedness of people when technology approaches the singularity.
So what does this have to do with my phone and the Google settlement? Well, assuming the Google settlement is approved in June, I’m sure it will not be long until we see the fruits of that settlement show up online. All those books that Google has scanned in will be available for the downloading or the on-line perusing, and there will be a system set up to pay rights holders–and to pay them about twice what Amazon pays for works they sell on the Kindle. To me, this sounds like Google is aiming to enter the ebook market with a bang. So in June or July, I would expect to see a Google alternative to the Kindle store pop up.
So is Google going to roll out an ebook reader? I would say no. Well, not really. But kind of. What we’re going to see, I think, is a new version of the Android cell phone OS that comes out in, oh, June or so. Maybe May. Right now there’s just the one phone that I know of that runs on Android, but there are more companies who are interested. And I would be surprised if we don’t see a new version of the OS, or at least new applications built for the OS, that are tailor-made to display ebooks purchased from Google.
So the letter from Verizon? It was one of those “new every two” things, where I can get a discount on a new phone since I’ve had my old one for two years, as long as I sign a shiny new contract with them. And will I? Well, reading Accelerando has excitied me about the prospect of virtually ubiquitous internet connection. even if I have to do it through a cell phone instead of cool heads-up display glasses, cranial implants, or having my consciousness uploaded onto the internet. So far. So yes, I’ll probably be getting a new phone in June or so, and it will probably be running Android. I suppose that leaves whether or not I’ll be signing up with Verizon, up to Verizon.
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