WSJ: Amazon CEO Says Kindle Will Stay Focused On Reader

[kjk]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...atestheadlines

"The Kindle will compete with these LCD devices like the iPad by being a very focused product," Bezos said at the meeting, which was webcast. "Serious readers are going to want a purpose-built device, because it's an important activity for them."

Great news for the specialized-ebook reader fans.

One shareholder asked Bezos when the Kindle might be available with a color screen. He said the ability to offer "high-quality color" on reflective displays "is still some ways out."

[dmaul1114]

Yep, as I've said all along, this isn't some zero sum end game where only multi-function tablets or dedicated readers can exist.

There's plenty of room in the market for dedicated readers for the avid readers, as well as tablets, pc programs, pdas, smartphones etc. that can also display e-books as well as do other things.

As long as there are avid readers wanting dedicated reading devices, there will be companies out their making products to make money of that niche. We live in a capitalist world, corporations won't ignore any sizable market and turn down a chance to make money.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Yep, as I've said all along, this isn't some zero sum end game where only multi-function tablets or dedicated readers can exist.

I think that officially makes you the only pro-tablet person who holds that view.

I'd still be much happier if Amazon put out actual sales figures. But I concur it's much better for Amazon to focus the Kindle on reading, and develop reading apps for other devices.

Also, as per usual the statistics can be highly misleading. It's difficult to compare unit sales, for example, since the iPad is not exclusively an ebook reader, and the Kindle app can run on the iPad. Plus losing or gaining market share doesn't mean much until the market is more or less saturated. Except, of course, to the minds of journalists who fail to consider things like revenues and profit margins....

[Ervserver]

in simple terms nothing new for Kindle anytime soon

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

in simple terms nothing new for Kindle anytime soon

Not. Necessarily.
All it means is that any new hardware bearing a Kindle name will be a dedicated eink reader.

Doesn't mean much else; they could be cooking up a Kindle mini, a wifi kindle, or a DX 2 for another try at the textbook market. Or all or none of the above.

And then, they could be lying and have an Amazon tablet/webpad on the way...

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

in simple terms nothing new for Kindle anytime soon

I for one would prefer a Kindle that gets better as just a reading device, than one that adds some superfluous features merely for the sake of novelty. Especially since the spork of ebooks, aka LCD tablets, ought to be able to satisfy the people who want non-reading stuff added to their reading devices.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Yep, as I've said all along, this isn't some zero sum end game where only multi-function tablets or dedicated readers can exist.

With the current battery uptime for tablets, the future looks bright for dedicated readers.

Should that change, though... I am afraid that economics of mass production will heavily tip the scale towards the multi-function devices.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I for one would prefer a Kindle that gets better as just a reading device, than one that adds some superfluous features merely for the sake of novelty. Especially since the spork of ebooks, aka LCD tablets, ought to be able to satisfy the people who want non-reading stuff added to their reading devices.

I agree. Stuff like better typography control or a higher contrast eInk screen would be nice.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Especially since the spork of ebooks, aka LCD tablets, ought to be able to satisfy the people who want non-reading stuff added to their reading devices.

To nit pick semantics, I don't want non-reading stuff added to a reading device.

It's more that I'm not really a reader and the Kindle was a frivolous impulse buy.

So I don't want a reader with extra features, I want a tablet in general, and would just do the little reading I do on it.

Well, little is too soft, as with a big screen tablet I could do my work reading on it--and I do a lot of reading there--which is why I don't read all that much in my spare time.

Originally Posted by Ankh

With the current battery uptime for tablets, the future looks bright for dedicated readers.

Should that change, though... I am afraid that economics of mass production will heavily tip the scale towards the multi-function devices.

Maybe. But there will still be some companies making devices that are primarily readers--i.e. that have e-ink or other reflective screens etc. as there's clearly a niche of avid readers who want them.

And again, there will be companies taking advantage of that by making products that cater to them.

Dedicated readers may become a smaller niche (or just not get much bigger than they already are). But there will be devices out there to cater to that niche, and that's all that really matters.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Dedicated readers may become a smaller niche (or just not get much bigger than they already are). But there will be devices out there to cater to that niche, and that's all that really matters.

Agreed.
However...

Way too many people are willing to relegate dedicated reader gadgets to niche-dom too quickly, methinks.

The value proposition of optimized/single function devices is generally very cost-dependent. Today's leading readers (in sales volume and mind-share, as opposed to features or performance) are Kindle, Sony, and Nook and they live primarily in the $250 range. When folks talk of multi-function gadgets crowding out dedicated readers, they are for the most part comparing tomorrows low-cost tablets (and the iPad) to currently-shipping dedicated readers, which are essentially 2009 products at 2009 prices.

At a minimum, we should see what the 2010 products look like and how even the older designs ride the price curve. We've already seen the Sony PRS300 hit US$169 list and sale prices of around $129. We've seen the Jetbook lite (repeatedly) hit the magical $99 price point and its sibling hit $129. If we truly see Android tablets hit the $100 price point this year (I'm not holding my breath, but the Pandigital tablet is supposed to hit $180 upon general release in June, so...) imagine what the exact same economics can do with eink which requires less battery power (and thus smaller, cheaper batteries) and can survive in thinner, lighter (cheaper) casings. If Sony (who are anything but low-cost vendors) can make the PRS300 to list for $169 in early 2010, surely other volume vendors can just as easily hit $149 list or even $99.

Now, how does the champion "spork" (I like that analogy) tablet rank against a $99 dedicated reader? Heavier, lower battery life, indoor use only, and costing 4-8 times more? Last time I looked, half of all media players sold were *media-playback-only* (even in Apple's lineup), not PDA wannabes. And that is in a mature, stable market. Hardly a niche.

Color may be nice for magazines and book covers, maybe digital comics. But the bulk of the publishing industry is still good old-fashioned plain text fiction and essays. Black and white.

I'm thinking that even after the prophesied flood of spork tablets arrives, even after color eink arrives, B&W eink will still hold firm as the reader display tech of choice for price and quality of display for years to come.

The press will, as they are wont to, focus on the features of the high-end color pads (the Ferraris and BMWs of the business) but the readers, both dedicated and casual, will focus on the value leaders (the Accords and Fusions) and those will do nicely for themselves and their customers.

The shock isn't that Amazon is going to focus on their readers, but that anybody thought otherwise. After all, Amazon is in the bookselling business, not in the advertising business like Google or the mobility business like Apple.

Sometimes, the best news of all is no news.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'm thinking that even after the prophesied flood of spork tablets arrives, even after color eink arrives, B&W eink will still hold firm as the reader display tech of choice for price and quality of display for years to come.

Eink suffers from annoyingly slow refresh rate. I don't see a potential for that technology to evolve and overcame that limitation.

And I am not talking the speeds needed for video here. Slow refresh is perfectly OK for "linear" reading, but is major pain for functions needed even for dedicated reader. Things like zoom in/out, scroll/panning through the PDF page or graphics displayed at 100%, speed of paging through the massive libraries on internal or external flash... Reflective LCD's, should they manage to increase the resolution of the current generation of screens, might turn out to be the better choice, even for "dedicated" readers.

As for the IMHO artificial division to dedicated readers vs. multi-function devices... it's all in software, isn't it? PRS+ has thrown in a couple of games for 505, why not something else? Multifunction device CAN be used for reading only, the opposite is not the case.

It is eInk vs. LCD, and both technologies have their share of problems and limitations.