Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
>No, it's the sense I get from Nathanael's posts.
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Hmm, don't recall using either "evil" or "liar". My point was it's a press release, and all press releases, whether they come from Amazon or the White House Press Secretary, are "lies" (if you must) -- insofar as they're truths selectively spun in carefully controlled contexts.
The bottom line is one should NEVER take a press release at face value. That was the point of the CNET article, and my point as well. Bereft of context, "Kindle sales triple!" is meaningless aside from marketing spin. If fault lies anywhere it's with the press that continues to swallow press releases hook, line and sinker. Amazon is just playing the game well.
As to whether Amazon is "evil", check my initial post in which I declared my undying admiration for Bezios' marketing genius, and acknowledged Amazon's unique role in expanding the ebook market (for which, make no mistake, I am grateful). As a marketing tool and content delivery channel, the Kindle is wonderful. As an ebook reader, not so much.
Where Amazon loses me is in its DRM-only approach to the Kindle, the emphasis being on "only". Kindles are great, as long as you don't try to break them out of the Amazon ecosystem. For those of us who don't wish to be locked into a single ecosystem, however, they're not such wonderful devices.
--Nathanael