Is this the start of things to come? Last August we reported that Lonely Planet began offering certain chapters of their South America guides for download -that can be printed out when needed or viewed on an iPod or Palm – through their Pick & Mix concept. They’ve now expanded since then and added guides to Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific and New Zealand last week making more than 100 guides availible online by chapter.
Whether this has anything to do with the BBC buying LP I can’t say. I found it interesting though that others have begun following suit. Random House, for instance, has begun experimenting with chapter by chapter downloads of “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” for $2.99 each. I highly doubt this will have the same affect as a guidebook be broken up for download, but I’m interested to see how this system will evolve.