Quote:
Originally Posted by sassanik
I can see the point of having a keyboard if you were reading non-fiction textbook type items. But I generally stick to the fiction stuff, and don't annotate stuff.
I am just saying that not all of us want/need all the features, they could create a cheaper one to reach a larger market. I would love to buy books through amazon and get their cheaper ebook prices, but I can't do the upfront costs right now. I would be willing to buy one at a cheaper price, and if it was cheaper I would not expect as many features, thus the reduction in the cost.
I have not used a kindle, because I can't afford it and frankly so far amongst my friends I am a early adopter, and they have not bought a ereader yet.
I would think that most of the people that are buying the kindle and other readers are fairly technologically capable, though I could be wrong in that assumption. It doesn't seem like an item that people that are not comfortable with computers in general would buy. *shrug*
Amy
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I agree the keyboard isn't that big of a deal if you're not annotating. I just use it for search. An on-screen keyboard probably wouldn't be too bad. I don't think dumping it would save a whole lot of money per unit, though. Neither would dumping the wireless. The majority of the hardware cost is in the screen and the controller. The keyboard and wireless radio are probably under $20 total. There's a bit of development cost (mostly in the wireless) but stretched over the cost of that many units, it's not much. I don't know if there's an activation charge from Sprint per unit but I would be shocked if it was anywhere near the $25 rate the individual consumer often pays.
I think the Kindle actually does have quite a few non-techie users, especially with Oprah publicizing it now. But even before that, I've spent some time on Amazon's Kindle forum and I would say it was, on the whole, a far less tech-inclined group than MobileRead. My sister has one and she fears computers. She loves reading. It just works and that's what she wants. I think there are plenty of readers out there that love books but are, like her, intimidated by the thought of getting the books on a device from their computer. It seems like an easy thing to most of us but it fills others with dread. They're probably more comfortable typing on a familiar qwerty board than a laggy on-screen keyboard, too. If I think about it from Amazon's perspective, they probably wouldn't pick up that many customers dropping the price by that little compared to how many they pick up with stuff like Whispernet.