Quote:
Originally Posted by Truth
I think those declaring Amazon's victory are still forgetting something key: the older, nontechnical demographic. Shocking as it may be, there are still many people who actually walk into places commonly called "stores". In these "stores", they buy things, books for example. For the people who still shop in this manner, the Kindle is not the ereader they are likely to choose. Here in Canada, Chapters & Indigo have the Kobo ereader in stores to play with. In the States, B&N will have the same thing. Amazon lacks this presence, and I know that I am not the only person who doesn't want to buy an ereader until playing with one.
On another note, I work at a small college in one of Canada's largest cities, yet ereaders are still barely on most of my (voraciously reading) coworkers' radars. I have shown some of them the Kindle, and while they thought it was neat, they wanted to experience one before making a purchase. At least one of them has since bought a Kobo simply because it was available to touch, hold, and purchase immediately.
If the Kindle isn't on everyone's radar yet, how can the format wars be over?
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Very valid points. I'm personally just speculating about what if Amazon wins the war. I personally just want the war over so we can move on to enjoying whatever reader in whatever universal format. And quite frankly, there might never be a clear winner--the worst case scenario.
Both Sony and Amazon fail miserably in having their readers available for the public to play with them in a brick and mortar store. Amazon especially since they don't have a brick and mortar presence. Sony because the retail brick and mortar stores that stock their readers tend to not know much about them and tend to not have them turned on. Best Buy in my area for example has Nooks on display and running, but their Sony Readers are not displayed like that. B&N obviously displays their Nooks, but even they didn't really seem to have many answers to my questions. They all need to improve in this area of public education.