MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Amazon: If we released Kindle sales numbers, it would only hurt us

emoorman · 12-30-2010, 03:22 PM

I have yet to figure out how Amazon has harmed me. Let me see. Before I started buying books from them, I could drive 20 mins to Booksamillion or 45 mins to B&N. Sometimes they wouldn't have a new book in or they might be sold out. It also might be raining. I discovered that I could go online and shop Amazon. Buy $25 and you get free shipping. I'd do that and wait 10 days for the books to come in.

At the same time I was reading ebooks from Peanut Press or whoever on my Palm PDA, then Centro, them Win Mobile phone. eReader.com they became, I think. That worked pretty well, but not a really big selection. Still I had to download them to the PC, plug the phone in and cross load to the phone. Not a big deal, but something to do.

I looked at a few dedicated ereaders, but haven't bought one. Then I noticed that I could get the Kindle for PC download for free. I tried it and it worked pretty darn good. I tried a couple of the freebies that Amazon has and it sure was easy. Click and BAM, the book was there, ready to read. Did I need a new account? No. The one I had been using to order paper books was fine. I tried a $6 mystery. Click-BAM. This is too easy. No wasting time. No wasting gas. No waiting. Just click and Ed, old boy, your book is here. Hey, I'm an engineer-I like this.

Then I saw Kindle for Android. Whoa! I have a new Motorola Bravo Android, so I have to try this. Android Marketplace, click, OK, install, open and it says, "Wait while I sync," or something like that. There are my books on my phone. I open the mystery and "Do I want to move to the furtherest point read?" You betcha, I do. Tap, and I'm right where I was on my PC. That is too cool. (Forgive me if my slang is out of date, I'm 73).

Getting back to the original topic, which was on Kindle sales figures. If Amazon says it is their best seller even, why shouldn't I believe them. I personally don't care what the actual figure is. I do know two things. First, check out the numbers on the various forums. The Kindle Forum has the most people by far. Second, if I was an engineer for one of the other ereader companies, I'd tell my program manager that he'd better give me the budget to make our system as easy and as seamless as the Kindle or we need to bail out before we go down the drain. If we aren't going to compete effectively, we are going to lose big time.

12-30-2010, 03:22 PM	#20
emoorman Obsessive Reader Posts: 74 Karma: 515292 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Shalimar, FL (in the panhandle) Device: Kindle PW, Nokia 1520	Has Amazon harmed me? I have yet to figure out how Amazon has harmed me. Let me see. Before I started buying books from them, I could drive 20 mins to Booksamillion or 45 mins to B&N. Sometimes they wouldn't have a new book in or they might be sold out. It also might be raining. I discovered that I could go online and shop Amazon. Buy $25 and you get free shipping. I'd do that and wait 10 days for the books to come in. At the same time I was reading ebooks from Peanut Press or whoever on my Palm PDA, then Centro, them Win Mobile phone. eReader.com they became, I think. That worked pretty well, but not a really big selection. Still I had to download them to the PC, plug the phone in and cross load to the phone. Not a big deal, but something to do. I looked at a few dedicated ereaders, but haven't bought one. Then I noticed that I could get the Kindle for PC download for free. I tried it and it worked pretty darn good. I tried a couple of the freebies that Amazon has and it sure was easy. Click and BAM, the book was there, ready to read. Did I need a new account? No. The one I had been using to order paper books was fine. I tried a $6 mystery. Click-BAM. This is too easy. No wasting time. No wasting gas. No waiting. Just click and Ed, old boy, your book is here. Hey, I'm an engineer-I like this. Then I saw Kindle for Android. Whoa! I have a new Motorola Bravo Android, so I have to try this. Android Marketplace, click, OK, install, open and it says, "Wait while I sync," or something like that. There are my books on my phone. I open the mystery and "Do I want to move to the furtherest point read?" You betcha, I do. Tap, and I'm right where I was on my PC. That is too cool. (Forgive me if my slang is out of date, I'm 73). Getting back to the original topic, which was on Kindle sales figures. If Amazon says it is their best seller even, why shouldn't I believe them. I personally don't care what the actual figure is. I do know two things. First, check out the numbers on the various forums. The Kindle Forum has the most people by far. Second, if I was an engineer for one of the other ereader companies, I'd tell my program manager that he'd better give me the budget to make our system as easy and as seamless as the Kindle or we need to bail out before we go down the drain. If we aren't going to compete effectively, we are going to lose big time.