Is light weight important? (And how light is light?)

Sony eBook Reader Brochure

Sony eBook Reader Brochure (Detail)

There are certain things that are important to customers. If you are buying a minivan to drive your kids around then "the safest minivan" might be a pretty compelling selling point. If you are purchasing long-haul planes for your airline then "lowest fuel cost per passenger kilometre" might sway your purchase intentions.

Is light weight really the most important thing when you are buying a eBook reader? I would think that screen size and legibility would be of critical importance. Or perhaps access to the largest library of books. Or a long battery life.

But for some reason, the light weight is the key feature that Sony is using to try to sell its reader. Hidden on the inside of of the brochure is the comparison Sony assumes that most consumers will make. How does the weight compare to a paperback? And the answer? "lighter than most paperbacks".

Sony eBook Reader Brochure - Page 2

Sony eBook Reader Brochure - Page 2 (Detail)

But is that sufficient? How big are "most paperback"? Is it George Orwell's "Animal Farm" or Charles Dickens' "Hard Times"? Is is a slim pocket book or a thick trade paperback? A graphic novel printed of coated paper?

Perhaps I'm being too pedantic, and it won't be the first time, but the paperback is not a standard measure of weight. (I weigh 70 kilograms, or 417 paperbacks.) The immense variability in the size and weight of paperback books might make it a tough standard for most consumers to understand.