Are ebook readers and ebooks actually a market? Will Amazon capture it?
So Amazon’s releasing a ebook reader, calling it Kindle, and hoping that it will get the ebook market going. I don’t – and won’t – buy it.For some people who like the experience and have already started reading ebooks, and after reading Michael Parekh’s blog I was amazing to find that there are people who do indeed fit into this category, it’s a good step up from your Sony reader. But for people who prefer the paper copy I can’t see this being a likely substitute.
To begin with there’s nothing really wrong with the classic book reading experience, sure carrying multiple titles with you might be attractive, but how often have you thought “wish I had another book with me”. Finishing a book and not having an alternative might in fact be a good thing as it gives you some time to reflect and meditate on the book.
And sure there are environmental concerns to buying lots of books, but if you buy books from used book stores and give books to used books stores then the environmental impact has to be minimal when compared to, oh I don’t know, cars and airplanes perhaps!?
I also found it really weird that Amazon decided to go into this market (as a manufacturer), they don’t have the experience or the knowledge to manufacture customer goods. And if Apple releases some ebook software for the iPod or the iPhone, heck when the SDK comes out in Feb if someone releases a software program for the iPod or iPhone, that’s got to be more useable, useful and probably will end up more used then the kindle.
Manufacturing consumer electronics isn’t cheap, and the fact that this was a first for Amazon probably meant they started from scratch, lots of costs. With a price point of 400 USD wonder how many they’ll have to sell to actually be ROI positive. Sure the ebooks will help the bottom line, but if the apple devices have software that reads ebooks surely this would have come down their pipe anyway. Anyway will be interesting to see if we’re all using kindles to surf and read books in a couple of years. But I doubt it.
This thing is sooo going to tank (in terms of it being a big sales success)! You have to pay to read RSS feeds, it’s too big and it’s hideously ugly (honestly, WHAT were they thinking?).
To top it off: the technology doesn’t add features that a simple paperback book doesn’t already offer, for a lot less money. Unless they come up with something sexy and really cool, ebooks and ebook readers are not going to conquer the reading marketing anytime soon methinks.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:47 pmPS just saw this after I posted my comment, which is much more eloquent than I am about this:
November 21st, 2007 at 2:50 pmhttp://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/11/why_kindle_is_n.php
I can’t let this thing go… (comes with being a bookhistorian I think), this review was the best I’ve read so far:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/11/the_kindle_doesnt_light_my_fir.html
November 21st, 2007 at 5:42 pmLOL, maybe in 100 years there will be Kindle historians… can’t see it though!
November 21st, 2007 at 5:45 pmMy idol Richard Stallman made it clear the evil implications of ebook:
http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/29/richard-stallman-takes-a-stand-against-ebooks-ebook-devices/
Our freedom to do the follow is restricted:
or instance, there is the freedom to borrow a book from the Public Library, and the freedom to sell a book to a used book store, and the freedom to lend a book to a friend, and the freedom to buy a book anonymously by paying cash, and there’s even the freedom to keep the book for years and read it as many times as you’d like, and pass it on, perhaps to your children, who might read it as many times as they like.
I hate ebook…
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 pm[...] 22 Nov, 2007 Kindle’s clogging up the blogosphere and the airwaves right now. As I wrote, and N and Cathy commented, the other day it’s probably a crummy idea. But some people have been [...]
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:42 pm