Now isn’t that a much more catchy title for a post than “Amazon launching second generation ebook reader”. I doubt that latter title would have gotten you to even open this post.
I’ve been a bit surprised that there isn’t more excitement about the upcoming release of the Amazon Kindle. Kindle is a new ebook reader from Amazon with one very big innovation-it has a 3G radio in the device so any book, magazine, or newspaper that is available in Amazon’s ebook format is instantly available on the device. It is 1/2 the thickness of your typical paperback novel. Getting on a flight and want to read the latest Economist or todays New York Times- no problem, just pull out your Kindle. On vacation and you finished your novel and there are no Barnes and Noble’s around-no problem, just fire up your Kindle. Over a week of battery life between charges. Environmentally friendly-yes, no more trees killed for your daily paper. No more vacation holds on your New York Times subscription-it follows you when you are on business trips or vacation. Easy on your eyes- yes, it has the MIT EInk display technology. Sure it is black-and-white only, but how many novels are written in color? Are there a critical mass of titles available?-yes because Amazon has enough volume with publishers to get them to play along. Pricing?-who knows but certainly will be less than the $599, er $399, er $399 + $100 store credit, iPhone.
Seems like a great set of features to me. Why not more excitement?
Perhaps it is the awful beige packaging of the prototype used for FCC certification.
Perhaps it is the thud that the Sony Reader made in the market when they launched because nobody could figure out how to get content into it.
Perhaps it is because we don’t trust anyone other than Steve Jobs to launch a new catagory of consumer electronics devices. I met up with the GM of a major consumer electronics company yesterday and got an early look at their upcoming devices. I saw some major innovations going on there, but found myself thinking that nobody would care. I’m wondering whether the Kindle will suffer the same fate. Wrap any of those devices that I saw with a white plastic package, put a lower case “i” in front, and have Steve Jobs pull them out of his pocket on a stage in San Francisco in January and it would be a completely different story.
So until Steve is ready to launch the iBook, please join me in getting the Kindle. We may be the only two people who do….
