Article: Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular

Many of the technology advances we take for granted began overseas.  And some still have not made their way to the North America, like the cellphone novel. The New York Times article talks about the cellphone novels in Japan and how they have gone mainstream. (Free registration may be required in order to read the article.)

Until recently, cellphone novels — composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan. as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, “The Tale of Genji,” a millennium ago. Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

I sometimes ask people if they have read a book on their PDA.  Most have not.  I often carry a book on mine so I have something to read while waiting for a meeting to begin.  And -- yes -- I have actually read several books on my PDA.  I wonder how many of us have even thought about reading books on our cellphones?