Bezos Interview on Kindle and other Amazon Ventures

[daffy4u]

From SmartMoney.com. I'll just quote some of the Kindle parts.

SM: Amazon has about 6 percent of all U.S. sales online. That's huge. Why muck it up with all the other businesses you've added, like manufacturing [the Kindle] and your new customer-service software?

Bezos: We are responding to customer needs.

SM: No one asked for the Kindle.

Bezos: True. It's not the customers' job to invent for themselves. Four years ago we thought about extensions to our business. We took a look at what we're good at. On Kindle, we had been selling e-books for years, but you needed an electron microscope to see the sales.

SM: Funny. Today's technology is such that we will soon have a cheaper, better version of Kindle. When will that happen, and what features can we expect?

Bezos: We will have new versions and new prices, but no date is set. We will continue to put content on. We want to make every book ever written available.

SM: What new features might we expect from the Kindle? Color? Animation? When I tried to read the newspaper on my Kindle, I couldn't easily jump to the business section.

Bezos: Color or animation isn't likely. E Ink [the type of technology Kindle employs] display doesn't support color in a commercial way. Plus, the rapid screen updates required for animation create eyestrain. The Kindle is more like a printed page — easier on your eyes. We will do on-air updates. Perhaps we'll create better user interface to improve what you're talking about for a newspaper.

SM: You are creating some original content to sell over the Kindle. There's a speech by author Mitch Albom, for example. Publishers — your suppliers — won't like that.

Bezos: We are working with publishers to make their books available on Kindle. We are not buying copyrights from them. We're also making self-publishing easier and supporting a lot of small publishers.

SM: Perhaps the larger issue is that adults are reading less than they did 10 years ago, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. Isn't this a concern?

Bezos: We humans evolve with our tools—they change us. But our network-connected tools have not kept pace with everything we need. The tools we've been building the past couple of decades make information snacking more convenient—I like my BlackBerry; it's good for e-mail and chunks of text. But you don't want to read a 300-page novel from a laptop.It's not comfortable.The Kindle was built for long-form reading.

SM: So as the Internet shortens our attention span, you think the Kindle will lengthen it?

Bezos: Yes, I think people will read more, not less.

[JSWolf]

So Bezos is telling us what we need?

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So Bezos is telling us what we need?

That was just exerpted quotes. The whole article states, "I'm going to go to JSWolf's house and tell him what he needs. Everyone else, I'm going to tell them what they want." Funny that Daffy left that out.

[vivaldirules]

"We want to make every book ever written available."

Do you hear that, Sony?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

That was just exerpted quotes. The whole article states, "I'm going to go to JSWolf's house and tell him what he needs. Everyone else, I'm going to tell them what they want." Funny that Daffy left that out.

Bezos: We are responding to customer needs.

SM: No one asked for the Kindle.

But then I don't think anyone asked for any of the eBook readers we have.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Bezos: We are responding to customer needs.

SM: No one asked for the Kindle.

But then I don't think anyone asked for any of the eBook readers we have.

No, no, I don't think anyone did. That's why I think it was a really stupid comment on the part of the interviewer.

I'm still waiting for flying cars ... and I know damn well I did specifically ask for those years ago ... and nothing. Crap.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So Bezos is telling us what we need?

Of course, Does anybody remember the Edsel? It was a car designed based on what the customers said they needed. What they say they need is not necessarily what they will buy. All successful companies have anticipated the need, not responded to surveys. Unsuccessful companies just don't read the customers correctly. An understanding and insight is what is needed, not a survey.

Dale

[Boston]

We will do on-air updates. Perhaps we'll create better user interface to improve what you're talking about for a newspaper.

I so hope this is true about the on-air updates as we haven't seen any yet. That would be very good news indeed!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

No, no, I don't think anyone did. That's why I think it was a really stupid comment on the part of the interviewer.

I'm still waiting for flying cars ... and I know damn well I did specifically ask for those years ago ... and nothing. Crap.

The real problem (IMHO) is what we do ask for in terms of software features we don't get even though most of what is asked for can be implemented fairly easily.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I'm still waiting for flying cars ... and I know damn well I did specifically ask for those years ago ... and nothing. Crap.

They're coming! A "roadable airplane," the Terrafugia. And a flying motorcycle, the Skybike. I'll take one of each, please!

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by starrigger

They're coming! A "roadable airplane," the Terrafugia. And a flying motorcycle, the Skybike. I'll take one of each, please!

Interesting ... but troubling that there are no videos or images of them actually flying. Really worries me that they talk about CG animations on the bottom of the Terrafugia page.

Puts me in mind of that man who pulled off that big automotive scam years back and then was discovered living as a woman. OR .... something like that. I don't remember the whole story.

Just looked it up .... it was called the "Dale Car."

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Interesting ... but troubling that there are no videos or images of them actually flying.

The Terrafugia has been undergoing taxi-testing, and they hope for flight testing in December. I wouldn't hold them to that, but they're working on it. It's a group near Boston--if I remember correctly, some people from MIT. One big challenge was getting auto safety certification.

The other I only just heard about today. But both have been written up in serious aviation circles. Which is not to say that your fears couldn't be proven correct, of course.

And, um, I've read you can get aviation charts for the Sony Reader (just to keep a tenuous connection to ebooks here).

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

"We want to make every book ever written available."

Do you hear that, Sony?

"We want to make every book ever written available for free." - it sounds much better

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Kris777

"We want to make every book ever written available for free." - it sounds much better

Megalomania is so much fun. Right Jeff?