Portable dictionaries are very popular in Asia, so it’s odd that you don’t see more reference texts in electronic form. Here’s a natural choice: the NIV version of the Bible, displayed on a 3.4-inch LCD screen along with voice narration for those hard of sight. It even has a built-in hymnal!
While not a Christian myself, I have a fascination for bibles and an even greater one for hymnals. (I collect old editions of both.) I may have to put this model from SAK on the shelf next to the others once it’s in the bargain bin.
And bibles in Korea? Turns out a huge segment of the South Korean population is Christian; they’re not all Buddhist or Confucian by any means.
SAK electronic Bible [Coolest-Gadgets.com]
You mention the Christian population in South Korea…the largest Christian church in the world is located there..Yoida Full Gospel Church boasted a membership of more than 800,000 in 2006.
For comparison’s sake, the membership of this church exceeds the entire population of San Francisco.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoido_Full_Gospel_Church
Have you ever tried audiobibles? You can go to http://www.audible.com and download The Bible Experience, the whole thing now. I think that’s a good example of one. I happen to be Asian and love Bibles and I collect them in different languages. I even had one in Korean until my friend moved to Korea, I gave it to him.
It also has “MP3 playback, an integrated FM radio, recording, e-book support, and a SD memory card slot”. While I am a Christian, I think I would buy this. Provided it has English language support, of course.
You collect hymnals? We must compare notes.* I’ve got some old Mormon hymnals with seriously weird hymns that have since been removed from the canon.
Me, I want a handheld electronic Missal.
(*The award for weirdest Protestant hymn would have to be a tie between “Great Speckled Bird” and the second (or in some versions, the third) verse of “Once to Every Man and Nation.”)
Franklin.com sells a number of electronic bibles in addition to other electronic books.
I worked in a Christian retail store for about 11 years. These items were fairly popular, particularly around Christmas.