[markbot]

1) Amazon.com is the best book seller and online retailer. They have the lowest prices and best selection. I am confident that Amazon.com will continue to be in existence longer than any other retailer (especially book retailer) currently in operation. I do not believe Barnes and Noble will continue as a going concern for more than 10 more years. As ebooks pick up in volume, Barnes and Nobles' bricks and mortar stores will become obsolete. Look at Blockbuster as an example. The writing is on the wall.

The most important aspect of an ereader is the ebook store.

Google books in its current form is useless for ereaders. There are far too many mistakes in the character recognition.

Sony sucks. It is not committed to this business in the way Amazon is.

2) Amazon's customer service is the best there is. I consider the entire customer experience and relationship when buying an ereader...not just the function of the device.

3) I believe in Jeff Bezos. He is a great CEO and the Kindle is his pet project. No one can foretell the future, but great execution in the present is a good indicator of execution in the future.

4) While the hardware is not the best, the Kindle device will have the lowest cost in the future. I say this because of the superior economies of scale that the Kindle has over rivals. It is by far the most popular reader. The lower per unit hardware costs should translate into lower prices and/or better features.


Room for improvement
1) Hardware design lags Sony in several respects
2) Amazon's ebook pricing is getting less competitive, especially on older books.
3) I'm not entirely sure about the margin structure...but I would think that at some time in the future the Kindle needs to be in physical retail locations. They don't want to end up like Dell. Early adopters are more comfortable with buying over the net.....more mainstream buyers prefer to touch and feel. As prices decline, you want casual consumers to make impulse buys while at the store.