Posted by John Patrick on Apr 15, 2012 in
Education,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Public Policy 
Libraries are trying their best to make borrowing e-books convenient, but publishers are not making it easy. See E-Books Are Easier to Borrow, Just Be Prepared to Wait. The New York Times story said that e-book borrowing is preceded by e-book waiting. I decided to take a look a virtual visit to the library in Ridgefield, CT and see for myself. I logged on to the library site and clicked on the button for downloading eMedia. The library has 1,730 e-books, but only 347 of them are available. This is what the New York Times writer meant by borrowing being preceeded by waiting. The library had just one copy of most of the e-books I looked at, and since that copy was presently loaned out, I would have to click the waiting list button and get in line to borrow the book when it is returned. The library has one copy of The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, and there are eight patrons on the waiting list to borrow it (there are dozens of patrons waiting for some books). I selected an available book and clicked to add it to my list. I proceeded to checkout, logged in with my library card number, selected a seven-day lending period (you can choose up to 14 days), and then clicked “Get for Kindle”. I was then redirected to the Amazon site where I clicked “Get Library Book” and the book downloaded to my Kindle just as if I had purchased it from Amazon. The whole process is pretty slick, easy to follow, and efficient. So what is the problem? There are several.
Why isn’t the digital inventory infinite? The library knows how many patrons it has and how many books they read per year. They could estimate how many will be e-books and establish a budget to cover the purchase of X copies for lending. I suspect the answer is that publishers don’t want to do it that way. They want to sell books the same way they have always sold books. One book at a time at a retail price. They are not about to have the book business be like the music business. Or, so they think. The other problem is the mechanics of borrowing the e-book. The process is easy for a Kindle with some publishers following the process I described. With Ken Follett’s books, however, his publisher requires that you connect your Kindle to your PC with a USB cable and then download the book. “Due to publisher restrictions, this book in the Kindle format cannot be delivered wirelessly and must be downloaded and transferred via USB.” Note that it is a publisher restriction, not a hardware or software restriction. You can click another link for instructions on How to transfer Kindle books to Kindle devices via USB.
Kindle is not the only kind of e-book, of course. Some books are in the Adobe ePub format and others are in Adobe PDF format. Each requires a different download and installation of software. The convenience of borrowing an e-book ranges from a few clicks and wireless transfer to your Kindle to a hassle of plugging your Kindle into a PC with a cable to several variations in between. Everywhere you turn, you can see content publishers clinging to the past. In my doctoral courses, the e-book textbooks we use can only be opened with Adobe Acrobat (not Preview on the Mac) and they can not be saved or transferred to an iPad, in other words e-books that can not be read on an e-reader.
Publiishers are clearly struggling to find the right model. They had made progress with the Apple deal, but then the governmnet said it was an illegal approach. Three of the five publsihers involved have agreed to revert to the model Amazon has been advocating — letting the retailer set whatever price they want. We are a long way from getting to a free market where consumers can get what they are willing to pay for. A new book arrives on the scene but you can’t get it on your Kindle until you get in line and wait. A new movie is available, but only if you go to the theatre. You spend $125 for a textbook fee, but you can’t read the book on your iPad. The good news is that there are many entrepreneurs circling the wagons, creating innovative new devices and services. The publishers can slow down progress, but they can’t stop it.
Tags: books, e-book, ebook, ipad, Kindle, publishers
Posted by John Patrick on Dec 21, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
iPhone,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile,
Music 
Thanks to Mary Keough, over at IBM, for reading my post and correcting me on the weight of the Kindle Touch. I was thinking of the new $79 Kindle when I said six ounces. I weighed four devices this morning to make sure I got this right. Here is what I found.
I have to admit that I am vascillating a bit between the Kindle and the Kindel Touch. They are both very light and a pleasure to read on. The touch screen is nice, but the simple buttons on the Kindle create a certainty about your intentions. When I swipe, sometimes I go back a page to make sure I had not swiped two pages. With the Kindle, a click is always “a” click. All the Kindle devices are great, and I suspect the Fire will keep getting better with software updates and follow-on models.
Mary asked about the advertising and quetioned whether it is worth the extra $30 on the Kindle or $40 on the Touch to get the device “without special offers”. My opinion is that it is not worth the extra money. The special offers appear as a screen saver when you stop reading. They are totally unobtrusive. You can easily not even notice them. If you want to look more closely and are interested in something being offered, you can go for it. Speaking of reading, the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was really great (see Apple at Grand Central Terminal). I am now reading Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I have read most of his books, and this one too is really good so far.
Other patrickWeb stories related to the Kindle
Tags: amazon, apple, fall of giants, fire, founders hall, ipad, iPhone, isaacson, ken follett, Kindle, kindle fire, kindle touch, steve jobs
Posted by John Patrick on Dec 20, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
iPhone,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile,
Music
On September 28, Amazon announced three new Kindles — a $79 Kindle, the $99 Kindle Touch, and the $199 Android-based color touch screen Kindle Fire tablet. Technology pundits have criticized the Kindle Fire’s touch screen and various aspects of the user interface (see Daily Report: Kindle Fire Attracts Critics, and Buyers – NYTimes.com). I have observed the shortcomings also, but I think the device has a market niche that will be well served — people who like to read books. At $199, it is less than half the cost of an iPad. Amazon will relentlessly promote the Fire on its site and is rumored to be nearly ready to provide software updates for better performance and improved user interface.
I remain a believer in purpose-built devices. The iPad is great for documents, weather, stocks, surfing the web, and reading books at the kitchen counter. The Kindle Fire is great for reading books. That is what it does best. It can also do most everything the iPad can, but not everything. I don’t see myself giving a slide presentation with a projector and the Fire. I don’t plan to put 40 gigtabytes of dropbox folders containing all my data on the Fire. The Fire is great for reading a book, listening to music, or watching a movie. It is basically a media player. You can do many tablet computing tasks, but that is not what it is best at. The device I like the best for reading books is the new Kindle Touch. It weighs six ounces and has no moving parts. Turning pages and setting bookmarks is as easy as a touch. You can change the font size to the optimum and read comfortably for long periods of time wherever you may be — incuding outdoors in the sun, which you can do with an iPad. If I am at the kitchen counter and want to read for ten minutes, I launch the Kindle app on the iPad and it automatically takes me to wherever I left off on the Fire or iPhone or wherever I last read — a seamless experience. So many gadgets, so little time! I plan to donate the entry-model Kindle to the senior center.
Tags: amazon, apple, fire, founders hall, ipad, iPhone, Kindle, kindle fire, kindle touch
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 1, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile
There are quite a few stories here in patrickWeb about the Kindle and about Amazon (see the links to the left for indexes to both topics). I confess that I am a fan of both. I also love the iPad — but for different reasons. The media loves to write about arch rivals and head-to-head competitors. They want to speculate about whether Fire will win out over the iPad. I don’t see it that way. In fact I see them both as winners. There is not going to be one device that is best for all things for all people. That is the great thing about consumer technology — there is something for everyone. Some will be happy to have an iPad as their sole “computer” and use it for reading books, writing stories, doing their email, and shopping on the Web. Others will want more purpose-centric devices. If you read a lot of books, you will want a Kindle. If you like to read outdoors, forget about using an iPad. On Saturday I received the new $79 Kindle. (I ordered the Kindle Touch and a Fire also but they will not be available until November). The new Kindle is great. It has no keyboard and is therefore smaller. You can hold it in your hand and read to your heart’s content and never get a sore wrist. It weighs next to nothing. The e-ink makes the words clear as a bell indoors or outdoors. If there is something you need to type, it has an onscreen keyboard that lets you select with the cursor. If you are going to write a story, that would be no good but to enter the SSID of your home WiFi network to get started, it is no problem. The new Kindle is #4 for me. I sold the Kindle DX on eBay and handed down one to my wife who doesn’t care about having the very latest model like I do. When the Kindle Touch and Fire (Kindles 5 & 6) arrive, I plan to donate a Kindle or two to the local senior center. What will Fire be like? I can’t wait to try it, but I expect it will be great for consuming media and for shopping — probably better than the iPad. When it comes to syncing my board papers between Dropbox and Goodreader, I expect the iPad will continue as the preferred solution. I expect the apps for CNBC and Bloomberg financial reporting, aviation and healthcare apps and many other apps will continue to be best on the iPad. I don’t see a replacement for FaceTime with the grandchildren. The best news is that we have some competition for tablets. That may make Apple the first company to have a market value of a trillion dollars, or it may mean that there are enough differences in the preferences of billions of people in the world that there is room for at least a handful of very successful products and companies. My bet is on the latter.
Tags: amazon, apple, book, books, dropbox, goodreader, ipad, Kindle
Posted by John Patrick on May 1, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile
TechCrunch reported that Kindle Books Overtake Paperback Books To Become Amazon’s Most Popular Format. Last July Amazon’s Kindle eReader books had surpassed hardcover books in terms of sales, selling 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books. Paperbacks have now also fallen behind with the Kindle selling 115 books for every 100 paperbacks. Hardcover books are now half of Kindle e-books, and there are now more than 800,000 e-books to choose from.
Nearly a year ago, I posed the question of whether the
iPad would dethrone the
Kindle? I don’t claim to have the answer but I may have some clues. I selected one of
David McCullough‘s outstanding pieces of work and read chapters alternately on the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Kindle on iPad. Not that many years ago I said in speeches that I “would never read a book on my cell phone”. I was wrong. Reading a whole book is unlikely for me but reading a chapter here and a chapter there is for sure. Standing in line at the supermarket or waiting for a subway train or maybe sitting on a park bench offers a chance to consume something you are really anxious to read. The iPhone Kindle app provides a landscape view and it is quite readable and simple to navigate. The beautiful thing is that when you later pick up your Kindle or the Kindle app on the iPad and open the reader it asks you if you want to continue where you left off on your iPhone. The Amazon
Whispersync feature is innovative and extends your reading time and enjoyment. Apple will have something similar or better and Google Android readers will no doubt have a sync feature as well.
One disadvantage of the iPad as a reader is that at one and a half pounds — not a lot compared to a laptop or even a netbook — it is five times heavier than a Kindle. The weight is concentrated in a thin flat device and I find it uncomfortable to hold after a while. The other thing is the back-lighting. The iPad screen is actually bright — perfect for flipping through photos, watching a movie, or surfing the web, but for a couple of hours of reading it can be hard on your eyes. The positive aspect of the iBook reader is the graphical representation of the bookshelf and the flipping of the pages. It is truly incredible that as you slowly “flip” a page with your finger you can see the words on the back of the page. You have to see it to believe it. The processing power to perform the page turning is equivalent to what was called a supercomputer not long ago. The iBook reader also has some very nice content related features. The brightness can be adjusted — helps with eye fatigue — and there are five selectable fonts with variable sizes. I really like the display at the lower right of each page that shows how many pages remain to be read in the current chapter. An icon at the top brings you the table of contents of the book and a listing of all your bookmarks. Adding a new bookmark is very simple. You tap tap on a word and a menu pops up asking if you want to look up the word in a dictionary, search the book for occurrences of the word, or make the word be a bookmark. When I show someone the iPad iBook reader I always make sure to place a bookmark so that after they get finished paging around I can get back to where I was. The Kindle 3 just makes everything I said even better.
The Kindle reader on the iPad is an updated version of the iPhone reader. It takes good advantage of the larger screen and also allows you to change the color of the pages — white, black, or sepia. The content controls are good but not as slick as the iBook reader. Ditto with the page turning. The Kindle reader has the graphical page flip but it doesn’t show the words on the back of the page. Certainly not something you need but it makes a distinction for the iBook reader that people find impressive.
Last but certainly not least of the four is the Kindle itself. The Kindle uses e-ink — it is reflective — like paper. The more light the better. Like millions of others, I am Kindlzed — since 2007. The 5 once device never burdens the wrist. The Kindle is monochrome but we don’t need color to read a novel. The Kindle is simple and intuitive to use. Not flashy, compared to the iPad, but dependable with long battery life. For extended reading sessions the Kindle remains best, in my opinion — for now. I expect things to change. The multi-purpose ability o
f the iPad is important. I find myself jumping over to check or send an email when I think of something while reading. Rather than just look up a word in the built-in dictionary I sometimes want to visit theWikipedia or explore a web site. The iPad has personal appeal and you get attached to it. Publishers are busy working with authors to create multimedia content to be integral to new and backlisted books — audio in the background, video interviews with the author or clips of content relevant to the topic of the book may make books more appealing and also may make them worth more — which brings us to the pricing.
The McCullough book was $9.99 on Amazon and $14.99 through the iBook store at Apple. Same book. No multimedia content. Is Apple’s version of the book worth 50% more? Publishers really don’t like the idea of people getting used to paying $9.99 for a book. They want a new model. Apple is accommodating them — so far. Time will tell how things are going to shake out. Ken Auletta’s piecefrom the April 26, 2010 issue of The New Yorker explores the state of book publishing with excellent analysis of the strategies of the two digital behemoths — Amazon and Apple, and also describes how Google will soon follow with it’s readers and online store. There is a very large fight beginning for control of the e-books market.
There will be much more to say about the book market but in the meantime the iPad will be selling briskly. No doubt in my mind that there will be very large adoption — tens of millions for sure — and it will make a big dent in PC’s. Also, more to say about what the iPad can not do and about the bigger question of iTunes. When will it be in the cloud? The iPhone will continue to be an important part of my life — for calls and picture taking. This morning I had an appointment at a place that had no WiFi (fewer and fewer of such places) so I turned on the iPad and took a minute or two to download my email inbox and the Wall Street Journal before leaving the house. It was more than enough to occupy my subsequent idle time.
Tags: amazon, books, ipad, Kindle
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 28, 2010 in
Blogging,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile 
The first purchase I made on the iPad back in April when I received the first day delivery was to sign up for the Wall Street Journal subscription. At $3.99 per week, it is not inexpensive, but the Journal has very good content and I faithfully read it every day. I had been reading it on the Kindle but for newspaper reading, the iPad is better, so I cancelled the Kindle subscription. I then realized that my “electronic” subscription (on the web) was about to expire and I was solicited by email to renew. But wait! I have to pay to read the WSJ on the web, pay again on the iPad, pay again on the Kindle, Android, print, the next new gadget too? Yes, to all of the above. This clearly makes no sense. Many of us writing about publishing models called out for a “pay once, read anywhere” model. It seemed to be falling on deaf ears until I received the following email on the day before Thanksgiving. Publishing models of all kinds are under attack but a single subscription with ability to read on the device or devices of your choice is clearly the only rational way from a consumer perspective. Publishers will have to negotiate with Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and others and it does not make their life easier but it is the only way they can survive.
Dear Valued Subscriber,
As a valued customer of The Wall Street Journal for iPad™, you now have full access to WSJ.com and WSJ Mobile Reader, at no additional cost. To start enjoying The Journal from your mobile phone, desktop or laptop, just log in using your existing user name and password for iPad. In addition, your WSJ for iPad subscription includes full access to our new Android Tablet app, currently available on the Samsung GALAXY Tab.
Start Enjoying Full Access Now
If you have any questions, please contact our Customer Service team at 877.975.2897 or tablet@wsj.com.
We hope you continue to enjoy The Wall Street Journal, anytime, anywhere.
Best Regards,
The Wall Street Journal
Customer Service
Tags: ipad, journal, publishing, wall street journal
Posted by John Patrick on Aug 29, 2010 in
Favorites,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
WiFi The new Kindle 3 — “Smaller, Faster, Cheaper“” — arrived on Friday morning, a few days earlier than Amazon had promised. I would say that the new device will assure Amazon’s lead for some time. It is really fantastic. I had no complaints with the Kindle 2 — in fact I love it — but the new one has a nicer feel to it. The slightly smaller size allows you to truly read “one handed”. The power switch was moved to the bottom from the top and I find that much more convenient. The new color seems more with the times. A few other button changes but overall it is pretty much a refined version of the Kindle 2 which was a refined version of the Kindle 1. I am sure we won’t have to wait a year for the Kindle 4.
The Kindle 3′s new no glare screen has increased gray-scale contrast — it is clear as a bell and it loves the summer sun. The battery life is supposed to be one month. The migration from Kindle 2 to Kindle 3 was trivial. Took the new device out of the box, plugged it in, and turned it on. I clicked “register” and gave it my Amazon account id and password. I also gave it the SSID of my Wireless Access Point here at the Lake and that was it. In seconds I was reading the book that I had started on the Kindle 2 (and read parts of on the iPhone 4 and the Kindle app on the iPad).
I still love the iPad but when it comes to reading books the Kindle is hands down better and with the Kindle 3 that advantage will be multiplied. The new Kindle comes in two flavors: one with WiFi for $139 and one with WiFi and 3G for $189. For most of us the WiFi model is more than adequate. If you are going on a trip you can download your favorite newspaper plus a book or two or more using your home WiFi and you are set. You don’t really need 3G for other applications because the Kindle doesn’t have other applications! That is what your iPad is for.
The magazine, book, and newspaper publishers still haven’t figured out what to do about the rapid adoption of e-readers. The iPad is great for reading news, but which news source is best to read? The New York Times has the worst model. They offer a dozen stories and plan to charge if you want more. The Wall Street Journal charges $3.99 per week for their news on the iPad but if you want to read a WSJ story on the web or your iPhone they want you to take out another subscription. Wired and Time want you to pay $5 per issue of their magazines. I believe people will be willing to pay for good content but nobody yet has the right model. I have experimented with quite a few news “readers” that display the RSS feeds of just about all publishers. I currently like NewsRack the best. None of the news readers are perfect but they are all getting better.
Meanwhile the Kindle DX has found a temporary home on eBay. The auction began Friday evening and already has 13 watchers and eight bids. The Kindle DX has been in use for airport and approach charts on the airplane but is no longer needed now that the pilots have iPads. This is a good example of where a “multi-purpose” device is better. There are many applications that are very handy in the cockpit and the iPad becomes an EFB (electronic flight bag). Hopefully, the pilots are not reading books while flying!
Tags: amazon, author, Aviation, efb, electronic flight bag, ipad, Kindle, kindle 3, kindle 4, publisher, WiFi
Posted by John Patrick on Jul 29, 2010 in
Favorites,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media Smaller, Faster, Cheaper. That has been the mantra of the computer business for decades and it continues on. As predicted here, Amazon has announced a smaller, faster, cheaper Kindle 3 and it also turns out to be clearer. The new no glare screen has increased gray-scale contrast and it loves the summer sun. The battery life is one month and the slightly smaller size and 8.7 once weight means you can hold it in your hand for a long time with no fatigue. At a price of $139 this new Kindle will likely become something that every member of the family will have. I think Jeff Bezos has the right idea with his “single purpose” device combined with a strategy to make all Amazon books readable on all the devices no matter who makes them. I love my iPad but when it comes to reading books the Kindle is hands down better and with the Kindle 3 that advantage will be multiplied.
The new Kindle comes in two flavors: one with WiFi for $139 and one with WiFi and 3G for $189. For most of us the WiFi model is more than adequate. If you are going on a trip you can download your favorite newspaper plus a book or two or more using your home WiFi and you are set. You don’t really need 3G for other applications because the Kindle doesn’t have other applications! That is what your iPad is for.
I have a small investment in Amazon and plan to hold on to it for a long time. I think their visiion and execution are outstanding as I have written many times here in the blog. The Wall Street pundits are not as bullish, however. In fact the latest stories on the company’s performance talk about “costs soar”, “investors spooked”, “expectations not met” and other negative phrases. Amazon was criticized for spending to expand it’s infrastructure. Apparently Wall Street would prefer that the company wait until they start dissatisfying customers and then apply bandaids. Amazon is adding 13 fulfillment centers this year and has hired an additional 2,200 employees over the last quarter. As an investor I like the long term view that Jeff Bezos has taken consistently from day one. He ignores the pundits and listens to the customers.
What was the bad news that caused the stock to take a big hit this week? Amazon’s earnings rose 45% on a 41% increase in sales. Sales of electronics and other general goods rose 69% to $3.49 billion. Operating expenses such as marketing and distribution costs jumped 40%, almost as much as sales. They didn’t rise — they jumped. Rising less than sales was a very good thing when I was a CFO. Another “negative” is that Amazon’s sales of traditional media, such as books and DVDs, continued to decelerate. That will be true for everyone as we all know. That is why Amazon is pushing the Kindle.
In spite of the “negatives” Amazon’s profit for the quarter grew from $142 million to $207 million while revenue rose from $4.65 billion to $6.57 billion. But analysts were critical that return on invested capital fell to 34% from 42% a year ago. Most companies would die to get 10%. The bottom line is that expectations get out of hand. An analyst puts a number in a spreadsheet for what they expect revenue or profit to be and those numbers become set in concrete. Somehow the analysts know more than Jeff Bezos about what his numbers should be. In the long run things adjust properly but in a quarter by quarter game the strategy and reality of performance are less important than what the expectations were.
Meanwhile Amazon reported it sold more e-books than paper books over the past three months. The company also disclosed an agreement with literary agent Andrew Wylie giving it exclusive rights to sell digital editions of certain older titles by authors such as Philip Roth and John Updike. The deal bypasses publishers completely. This is profound. The publishers are furious about the deal but for the rest of us it means fairly priced access to a large number of classics. The Kindle library now exceeds 600,000 and is growing rapidly. That should take care of a lot of summers.
Tags: amazon, author, ipad, Kindle, publisher, wylie
Posted by John Patrick on Jul 20, 2010 in
Aviation,
Favorites,
Gadgets,
ipad,
iPhone,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile PC World Magazine says “Amazon Kindle Sales Defy IPad by Rising Each Month in Q2“. This does not come as a surprise for a number of reasons. One is that the Kindle is a great product that is highly intuitive and easy to use. People get addicted to it and they tell their friends and family about it. I have been wanting to read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short but it was not available until recently on the Kindle. I waited. Great book, by the way. I know people who told me a few years ago that they had no interest in the Kindle but now are addicted. It was a popular gift item last holiday season and with the price reduced (again) it has become attractive to a much larger audience. Another factor is that the iPad is not the Kindle killer that some had thought. As described here a number of times, the iPad is great but not for for long periods and not for reading outdoors. Summer reading is the sweet spot for the Kindle.
Now we have the new Kindle DX. The “old” Kindle DX was already quite nice. We have been using it as an “electronic flight bag” for roughly 15,000 approach and airport charts. The Kindle reduces clutter in the cockpit but the iPad does a better job as an EFB since it has numerous aviation applications that enable pilots to calculate weight and balance, get the latest weather, and file flight plans directly with the FAA. Now that we have the iPad the DX can revert to the original reason we got it — reading newspapers and magazines. The DX is great for books too but the smaller Kindle is more comfortable to hold. The sweetspot for the DX is magazines, newspapers, and documents. Putting the DX on a stand and flipping through the Sunday paper is a treat. And now with the new DX it will be even better.
The new 9.7″ diagonal, high contrast e-ink screen has 50% better contrast than it’s predecessor. The Kindle DX display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. With the free 3G wireless (no monthly payments and no contract) and the lower price, the DX is going to be a good choice for many people. Battery life is great too — read for up to 1 week on a single charge; turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks. The built-in PDF Reader has enhanced zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics. For professionals who have thousands of documents it will be a natural.
There will be a lot of competition for tablets and e-readers but from what I have seen so far the iPad and the Kindle, and the Kindle DX are the best. I love my iPad but for reading books the Kindle is better. I especially like being able to go back and forth between the iPhone 4, the Kindle, the Kindle DX, and the Kindle e-reader on the iPad and always have the bookmark synced to where I last was reading. As for newspapers and magazines the next move needs to be from the publishers who seem frozen with indecision. They want to charge a lot of money for their content but most of us don’t want to pay. Why pay for a New York Times app on the iPad when you can read the New York Times blogs on Pulse for free? As for magazines there is great potential for electronic versions but I don’t think people will pay the $4.99 for each new issue that Time and Wired are charging. I expect a lot of news about the news in the months ahead.
Tags: approach plates, Aviation, documents, dx, e-book, e-ink, e-reader, efb, flight charts, ipad, Kindle, kindle dx, magazines, New York Times, newspapers, pdf, time magazine, wired
Posted by John Patrick on Feb 26, 2009 in
Gadgets,
Kindle,
Media 
And now we have the Kindle 2, the next generation wireless reading device. I am really pleased with so far. At just over 1/3 inch and 10.2 ounces, the new device is very sleek — as thin as a typical magazine and lighter than a paperback. It is not radically different than the original Kindle but definitely a refinement of the user interface. The faster page turns are noticeable and the sixteen shades of gray instead of the current four makes the already sharp Kindle page sharper.
While the cell phone makers need three years to convert to the new micro USB standards-based charger, Amazon has already included it with Kindle 2. I think they have a winner on their hands. An analyst I heard today said that Amazon was cannibalizing it’s book business. I think he missed the point. When Amazon sells a "real" book for $20 their cost will include the printing, binding, inclusion of a multi-color glossy dust jacket, picking the book from the warehouse shelf, packing it in a box, and loading it on a truck. When Amazon sells a "Kindlized" book for $10 their cost includes a server noticing the click on amazon.com or on a Kindle and the transmission of a few hundred thousand or so bytes of data over the air to the Kindle plus an infinitesimal amount of storage to keep a copy on their server. The only question is how many times greater the profit margin is in favor of the non-book book.
Other patrickWeb stories in the gadget category
