Jeff Bezos at "D": Some Kindle stuff

[rmeister0]

The interesting bullet points:

Bezos says on title by title basis; 125,000 titles available for Kindle. Kindle units are more than 6% of those total sales of that universe of titles.

Lowered the Kindle price to $359 from $399; Kindle is selling well, we’re extremely happy about it. There will a second version, a third version, a tenth version. He says the second version is not that near.

Bezos says over time, real books won’t go away, just as horses have not gone away.

Full blog entry: http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderd...ns-jeff-bezos/

For video highlights of the D6 interview with Bezos, click here and here.

[zelda_pinwheel]

"just as horses have not gone away"

[Liviu_5]

Saw Bezos on CNBC at noon, the first part of the interview. Martha Stewart had a lead-in praising the Kindle, how she loves it... Bezos came with the Kindle, showed it, did the dog and pony show about integrated experience...

When the CNBC reporters asked him point blank about profitability, he was evasive at first, "we are excited" stuff, and then he said that the Kindle is still in the investment stage...

All in all, nothing new but despite my Kindle skepticism I have a very healthy respect for Bezos' instincts so if he pushes the Kindle so much, it's for real so to speak...

[TadW]

A horse is a book is a horse is a book is a ... sorry, I got carried away.

[JackieFrost]

+1 for the horses bit. Huh? Horses and cars?

You can take a horse to the water but you can't make it drink!

[Ervserver]

and I figured they lowered the price because they were NOT selling well

[MoSo]

I don't think that the price was lowered because the Kindle wasn't selling well; more like they just wanted to sell more units and had finally got production evened out.

Also, some poor wording choices in that interview, which have led sources around the net to conclude that Amazon has only sold 8,000 Kindle books thus far. I think what Bezos is saying is that, while there are currently 125,000 books available through Amazon for the Kindle, Kindle book sales account for about 6% of Amazon's book sales. Not that Amazon has sold about 6% of the available 125,000 books, or only 8,000 Kindle books.

A quick count of all books (not just Kindle books) shows well over 125,000 books in just the SciFi/Fantasy and Mystery sections combined, let alone the rest of fiction and all of non-fiction. Plus a quick check of my Amazon account shows that I've downloaded more than 40 books through Amazon (and more than twice that through other sources, including here), and I've only had mine 3 months and doubt I'm the "leading" downloader.

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by MoSo

while there are currently 125,000 books available through Amazon for the Kindle, Kindle book sales account for about 6% of Amazon's book sales. Not that Amazon has sold about 6% of the available 125,000 books, or only 8,000 Kindle books.

I would further parse that to mean that of the 125,000 books available in a kindle edition ("that universe of titles") 6% of those titles are sold as a kindle edition.

Still very respectable. And a good sign of the acceptance of ebooks.

[Alisa]

I think the horse is rather a good analogy to what paper books might become in the future. Horses are amazing animals and many people love them and enjoy them but we don't use them for our day-to-day life. We have more efficient means, but there is also beauty in things that aren't efficient. A gorgeous artisan printing of a beloved book is the sort of thing many of us book lovers would greatly enjoy but we don't need that for our day-to-day reading. I think some day printed books will be that rare, beautiful thing that we marvel at but our regular reading and document needs will be mostly handled electronically. Paper books will be more of a luxury item.

[Spellbot 5000]

There'll be a tenth version?!? Wow, what a visionary!

Hey guys, insider tip here: Most models of cars out this year will have a new model next year! Keep this one quiet folks. Also, I have it on good authority that computers will get faster as time goes on.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Spellbot 5000

There'll be a tenth version?!? Wow, what a visionary!

Hey guys, insider tip here: Most models of cars out this year will have a new model next year! Keep this one quiet folks. Also, I have it on good authority that computers will get faster as time goes on.

I think you've missed the point. His is more of a commitment than a prediction. I would suggest that Jeff is saying there will be a Kindle Version 10 because the product line is here to stay. Ebook devices could be said to have had a slow, possibly even stop/start beginning, and I would suggest that Jeff is saying that his is not a product line that will be dropped or pushed aside; that the Kindle (and, I would say, ebook devices in general) is now here permanently in a more "mainstream" form.

Predictions of new model cars and increasing computer speed are mostly not analogous. Statements of commitments to a model range by a manufacturer, or commitments to increasing the speed of computer chips by chip-manufactuers, are.

The worth of all these statements, prediction or commitment, may arguably be the small part from which any analogy can be drawn.

Cheers,
Marc

[Steve Jordan]

I've mentioned before that Amazon likes the long view... look how long it took from their opening before they initially became profitable. If they're planning on selling books digitally, you can bet they're not taking this trouble just to fold it next week. They're looking at the decade-long picture.

The percentage numbers are, yes, vague, could be decrypted in any number of ways. Again, they don't mean much, because we're still so early in the long view.

[joblack]

He looks kind of gay on the photo (did he use lip stick?) ...

[JSWolf]

I'm hoping by the time Kindle Mark 2 is released we'll have sorted out all this DRM and format issues and that Amazon will be more open with their eBooks.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by joblack

He looks kind of gay on the photo (did he use lip stick?) ...

Well, to coin a Pratchett phrase I'm "as gay as a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide", and he looks nothing like me (no beanie with propeller, no Hanuman monkeyface mask, and that's just for starters). Perhaps if you described what all of us gay folk look like, we could make a determination as to whether he looks gay or not.

Cheers
Marc