On Tuesday, Arnaud Nourry, Chairman and CEO of Paris-based Hachette Livre, the global publishing giant, found himself in the headlines over remarks he made to India-based news service Scroll.in.

In that interview, Nourry called the e-book a “stupid” product. Not surprisingly, that colorful comment kicked off quite a discussion in publishing circles.

“We should note that Nourry’s comment pertains to trade e-books-- novels, mostly--and neither educational nor informational texts,” Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer, observes.

“And he is absolutely right--with the keyword here being product. And that's not because e-books don't have more digital bells and whistles, as he suggests, but because, as currently imagined, the e-book market, and to some degree the very concept of the e-book itself, are designed more to protect publishers' legacy print businesses than to serve the needs, wants and expectations of digital readers,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.