ARN

Taiwan airport opens e-library for transit passengers

Readers can consult Chinese and English-language titles for free on iPads or devices with e-ink screens in the e-library

Taiwan's international airport has opened what it calls the world's first in-transit e-library, offering 400 e-book titles to ease waiting-hall boredom while showcasing the island's high-tech capabilities.

The e-library at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport allows passengers to consult the Chinese and English-language books, and around 2,000 books on paper, in a special waiting area in the larger of the airport's two terminals. The terminal commonly handles stopovers between North America and Southeast Asia.

The e-books are stored on around 30 devices, a mix of iPads and e-readers with e-ink screens. The e-books are stored in the ePub and Zinio formats. The airport is loaning out the devices on a first come first served basis. Passengers can't download the books to their own e-reader, limiting the usefulness of the service.

The duty-free shop manages the library, which was proposed by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou. The shop worked with Taiwan's government-funded Institute for Information Industry and the project cost more than NT$3 million (US$102,000)

The shop couldn't say how many people have borrowed e-books since the library opened this week. The airport handles up to 17 million passengers a year. Availability of e-books worldwide is growing, with dramatic sales growth expected this year.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Gartner
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Ever Rich Duty Free Shop, consumer electronics, e-readers, government, Government use of IT
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/avg/2009-09-18_71_become-an-avg-reseller
AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd

Become an AVG Reseller and Make Serious Money!

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.