MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Defective by Design is targeting the Kindle

RWJ · 03-10-2009, 11:26 PM

Oy.

Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, people have less discretionary income than they did, on average, a couple years ago. But it's all about perspective. I'm not wealthy by any means, and I'm not particularly well positioned with respect to the Global Economic Apocalypse of Doom, and so on. I'm not 100% sure I'd buy my 505 today, given the choice, partly out of financial concerns. But I might - because I don't watch TV, almost never go out to the movies, and eat in a restaurant a handful of times per year. (By choice - don't like most movies and TV, and am a vegetarian in a city with few good veggie restaurants.) So while $300 for the reader is a good chunk of change, it's not unreasonable as a good share of my entertainment budget, given that I am a book addict, read a lot of documents for work, and am saving lots of money and hassle with cheaper and free ebooks, and so on. I know people who are selling their houses or moving to cheaper apartments who have cell phone plans that are $50 a month. Not how I'd allocate my budget, but - chacun a son gout.

On a less bombastic note, as to the potential readership of electronic books: the number of people who read lots of books is appallingly low, and it shows in the general literacy of university students. But reading things other than books is still fairly healthy: newspapers and magazines are read more often than books (although declining) but news content and magazine-style journalism, as well as blogs and other internet-only content are expanding tremendously. A device that allows people easily to transfer the content they want to a device that is light, small, durable* and lasts for ages on one charge could work out very well.

I also find that the major conversion factor among the people I know who've bought them (often after seeing or hearing about mine) is the travel angle. Lots of people travel for work regularly; odds are pretty good that anyone who flies for work once a month is earning enough money that $300 or so for the portability and convenience of a reader isn't a big deal. Even if devices only get sold to frequent fliers, there's still a hell of a lot of money to be made.

03-10-2009, 11:26 PM	#129
RWJ Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 170 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: PRS-505	Oy. Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, people have less discretionary income than they did, on average, a couple years ago. But it's all about perspective. I'm not wealthy by any means, and I'm not particularly well positioned with respect to the Global Economic Apocalypse of Doom, and so on. I'm not 100% sure I'd buy my 505 today, given the choice, partly out of financial concerns. But I might - because I don't watch TV, almost never go out to the movies, and eat in a restaurant a handful of times per year. (By choice - don't like most movies and TV, and am a vegetarian in a city with few good veggie restaurants.) So while $300 for the reader is a good chunk of change, it's not unreasonable as a good share of my entertainment budget, given that I am a book addict, read a lot of documents for work, and am saving lots of money and hassle with cheaper and free ebooks, and so on. I know people who are selling their houses or moving to cheaper apartments who have cell phone plans that are $50 a month. Not how I'd allocate my budget, but - chacun a son gout. On a less bombastic note, as to the potential readership of electronic books: the number of people who read lots of books is appallingly low, and it shows in the general literacy of university students. But reading things other than books is still fairly healthy: newspapers and magazines are read more often than books (although declining) but news content and magazine-style journalism, as well as blogs and other internet-only content are expanding tremendously. A device that allows people easily to transfer the content they want to a device that is light, small, durable* and lasts for ages on one charge could work out very well. I also find that the major conversion factor among the people I know who've bought them (often after seeing or hearing about mine) is the travel angle. Lots of people travel for work regularly; odds are pretty good that anyone who flies for work once a month is earning enough money that $300 or so for the portability and convenience of a reader isn't a big deal. Even if devices only get sold to frequent fliers, there's still a hell of a lot of money to be made.