This is the point I was trying to make in my comments earlier. Typography is a feature. Right now we're seeing Minimum Viable Ebooks. Ship.
What is the incentive for better typography? Most books are like mini-monopolies (over the short term). If the typography of a book sucks and it sucks on all platforms, what is a consumer to do if they want to read the book? Fallback to print? Publishers probably don't mind that. It's true that all things being equal, typography could be a deciding factor for the consumer, but my gut says that in most cases the content is weighted much higher.
I think the platform could benefit from typography. A consumer may choose an iPad over a Kindle if the iPad had a better reputation for typography. But since there is _art_ involved it might not be economical for the platform to pursue it. Which is a better selling point: Our platform has 100 really nice books or our platform has 100,000 books?
No, but this is how the iPod beat every other mp3 player -- it was just undefinably better to use. Typography is one of those features; most people don't think they even notice it, but they do.
Your mom might select a kindle fire if she hears from all her savvy friends and family that the kindle fire delivers a better experience. She may even hear why it does, but she may not care about the why, just that trusted sources inform her it is better.
I believe this is true in general. A few savvy people catch on that a product is better and it becomes a meme that others rely upon for their decisions.
Don't talk about my mom like that! (In all honesty she is not really into savvy/hip people;)
I do not think that there are enogh savvy-typography-valuing-people to induce some market driving meme. If this was the case Word would have died many years ago...
What is the incentive for better typography? Most books are like mini-monopolies (over the short term). If the typography of a book sucks and it sucks on all platforms, what is a consumer to do if they want to read the book? Fallback to print? Publishers probably don't mind that. It's true that all things being equal, typography could be a deciding factor for the consumer, but my gut says that in most cases the content is weighted much higher.
I think the platform could benefit from typography. A consumer may choose an iPad over a Kindle if the iPad had a better reputation for typography. But since there is _art_ involved it might not be economical for the platform to pursue it. Which is a better selling point: Our platform has 100 really nice books or our platform has 100,000 books?