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Originally Posted by bbusybookworm
Groan! Why is it that any new consumer electronics are always compared to the iPod?
And even more irritating, not to the ipod when it was introduced, but to the current market figures, or at the most the first USB versions.
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Because the folks doing the comparisons are concerned with
big numbers.
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Why is it that no analyst can see beyond the next quarter? And then they wonder why they cant match Berkshire Hawthorn, which constantly looks long term.
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You mean Berkshire Hathaway, but you're right.
Two anecdotes, incidentally:
Warren Buffet once talked about internet companies. He said if he ever gave a graduate finance class, the final exam would be one question: provide a value for an internet company. Any student who actually
provided a value would
flunk. Given the dot com boom and subsequent bust, he was on to something.
Buffet's investing partner was once asked by a woman at a dinner party "What's your secret?" His response was "Madam, I'm
rational." Most folk's version of rational thought consists of coming up with justifications
after the fact for why what they already decided to do was not only a good idea, but the best move under the circumstances, and "most folks" includes "most stock traders", so he had a point as well.
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More seriously, while millions of people read, as a percentage of the population it is quiet small. Add in the factor that the initial buy in is so steep, so most people would not justify the cost unless they spend a fortune on books regularly, have a lack of book stores locally, or want the convenience.
It's going to take some time for the additional benefits to sink in. I feel that Readers are going to be more of a word of mouth product then a Mass market, heavily marketed product.
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I concur. Readers
can't be a phenomenon comparable to the iPod. Not everybody reads, and many who do don't do it for fun.
There's a market, but not the sort of thing the analysts will swoon over.
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Dennis