19 Nov, 2007 in
Product Reviews by
Fred
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Amazon is today debuted its new ebook reader, the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle boasts a “revolutionary” electronic-paper display that allows you to read electronic books on a high resolution display.
The Amazon Kindle will allow you to wirelessly connect to Amazon’s Kindle Store wherever you are. This is a really cool feature. You will be able to connect to this store even in locations where you don’t have wireless access, like in a taxi or walking around town.
From the Kindle Store, you will be able to purchase eBooks and have them delivered to your Kindle in minutes. No longer will you be stuck with time on your hands but no reading material. Amazon currently has over 88,000 books for sale, including a hundred on the current New York Times Bestseller’s List.
Will ebooks and ebook readers take off?
I really have my doubts. At a price tag of $400, I really don’t think many people will buy it.
Amazon is making a huge mistake non-subsidizing the price of the hardware. It tells me that Amazon is not confident in the Kindle and its Kindle Store. If Amazon was confident, they would make the readers super cheap and make up the money through sales of eBooks.
Having said that Michael Arrington thinks that the Kindle,
“could finally bring ebooks mainstream.”
What does mainstream mean? Well, mark my words this will not make any dent in the overall $25 billion publishing market.
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Jim | November 19th, 2007 at 7:44 pm #
I have always wondered about these digital books as well… personally if reading for an extended amount of time I like a piece of paper, plus I don’t have to worry about the batteries dying.
-Jim
Kristen | November 20th, 2007 at 3:52 pm #
I think there are a lot of reasons why there will be a good market for the Kindle. I generally read two or three books at a time, so having a device that will allow me to carry all of them with me will be great! Especially when I travel.
Another great feature that Amazon is offering is that the first chapter of every book is free. So you can read the chapter before deciding whether to buy the whole book. It’s not just for books though, you can download subscriptions to newspapers and other periodicals that update automatically overnight.
As much as I spend on books right now, it will be much more economic for me to buy a Kindle. I don’t mind the price tag. So I’ll be getting one. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Kristen
Fred | November 20th, 2007 at 4:44 pm #
Kristen, thank you very much for providing evidence that people want this product. I think that it is really cool, but I am not sure that I could justify spending $400 on it.
I really think that Amazon should subsidize the hardware in order to sell ebooks.