When the iPad was first announced, perhaps an Ikea executive said "Uh-oh," and perhaps not. If the exec had good foresight, perhaps he did this math:

1. The iPad will become popular 2. Competing tablets will arrive 3. Tablets will become ubiquitous 4. E-book sales will rise, print book sales will decline 5. We'll start selling less bookcases.

As an article in The Economist points out, this is exactly what's happened. As a result, Ikea is finally redesigning what is arguably their bread-and-butter product, the Billy bookcase, making it deeper and pushing the glass doors option. Why? "The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome," says the article, "anything, that is, except books that are actually read."

While Ikea might not like the idea of selling fewer bookcases, they surely see the financial wisdom in e-books: Every year they print 175 million copies of their catalog, more than tripling the number of Bibles printed worldwide, and it eats up 70% of their marketing budget. Their app version of the catalog will presumably change that.

The new Billy will debut next month.