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Analysis: Amazon’s New eBook Reader Kindle – Is This The Future?

Authored by Jay Baage on November 19, 2007 - 8:58am.
Today online retail giant Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) introduced its $399 electronic book reader called ”Kindle”.  It's certainly not the first eBook to hit the market, but it has something most of its predecessors lacked; the ability to download books (up to 200), magazines and newspapers on-the-go using an EVDO cellular network to connect to the Internet. It is a big step forwards, but it seems unlikely that it will do to books what Apple's (NSDQ: AAPL) iPod did to music.

The Kindle is a neat device and its functionality seem to be up-to-date with that is required of the new generation eBook readers - it’s portable, has an easy-to-read display, syncs wirelessly with Amazon’s online bookstore and allow you to look up words and references in real-time using the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Moreover, downloading best sellers and new releases will cost only $9.99, somewhat cheaper than Amazon’s list prices for physical books (at least hard covers).

However, it’s hard to see people camping out for days in order to get their hands on a Kindle, as they when Apple’s iPhone was first launched.

Here is why:
1.    Design. It is not sexy enough. It looks like a weird toy spaceship from Starwars. But with keys. I’ll rather have a book in my hands than this thing.
2.    Price. $399 is too much. I can get an iPod Touch for less.
3.    In an era when people have grown accustomed to getting content for free on the internet, Amazon charges for access to newspapers such as The New York Times ($13.99 a month) and The Wall Street Journal ($9.99 a month). To get access to 300 blogs, you need to pay 99 cents or $1.99 a month.
4.    The Screen is black and white, no colors. What is up with that? Even the low end cell-phones have color screens now.

In summary, it's an improvement over previous eBook readers, but the Kindle is not an ipod for books quite yet. It is function over form and, even so, not good enough to, at least, make me want one.

Joakim Baage

Poll: What Do You Think of Amazon's Kindle eBook Reader?

Published in DMW Daily, November 19, 2007
tags: Mobile | Internet | Marketing | Tech | Amazon | Publishing | Books |



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