Quote:
Originally Posted by J. Strnad
I know that I am not the norm, being of the "less is more" philosophy, but that's how I've become in the rest of my life, too. I'm generally getting rid of stuff rather than adding more, in balance. The Kobo (or any other ereader) frees up a lot of space and gets rid of a lot of clutter.
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Actually, I'm not so sure you are in such a "minority". Life is complicated enough for many of us. Television promises a 500 channel universe -- but how do you figure out what's on? If you have a headache, there are dozens of choices over the counter medicines at the pharmacy ... but which is the best choice for you? And which is the best pharmacy for price or advice?
OMG: do I now have to think about how well my pharmacist's IT department is at keeping my records private?
"Less is more" works for a lot of people: I just want to do "x" ... I don't want to take a five week course to learn how to turn on my computer (or my X-box) or send an e-mail. This group's mantra: I lead a complicated, busy life - I don't care for, and don't have time for, all that other stuff. The corollary is: "I don't want to pay for all that extra stuff I'll never use and you are forcing me to buy". A suspicion: Extra features = extra cost. There is a day of reckoning coming in many areas of consumer technology.
And it's not that consumers don't want choice: of course they do. And one of those choices is to simplify their lives, not complicate them further. "Empowerment" isn't just having
20 more options or features ... it's also about
having just one that saves time and money. Given that choice, you'd be surprised how often a consumer is willing to make a trade-off.
For many, the $50 mp3 player is a
better choice than an iPod. ("Geez. I just use the thing when I'm running or at the gym. Light, portable, cheap, basic random play; no brainer to load or charge. Touch screen? Yah, right, like I need to pay for
that!")
The real opportunity here is for a leading brand, like Amazon's Kindle, to develop three or four products meeting wide swathes of consumers. Imagine a Kindle that has the basics (think Kobo), with nothing but e-ink, very basic library management, and 3G technology simply for buying and syncing. Then, a Kindle 2ish product, for more money, which layers on more features as it does today. Then a Kindle DXish product, for more money, larger screen, and better handling of files like pdfs. Finally, a colour Kindle DX 2 which handles magazine and colour newspaper content well ... that doesn't deliver a full iPad video experience but sellss at around half the cost. The overall brand, bookstore, customer service can be leveraged to best address each consumer segment with the experience each is willing to pay for.
So far, we've seen only single, or at best two tier, products from any brand: and that includes Amazon, Sony, B&N, Aztak, Apple. The needs of college kids with access to content AND the ability to take notes; the needs of older consumers who value library interaction; the needs of mainstream, not cutting edge early adopters, who are concerned that "it just works" but are willing to push the envelope somewhat ... who speaks for them? Lot's of promises of "next best thing" from existing players and countless wannabes ... but no manufacturer today offers a wide range of solutions to really storm the category and hold it.
Including something for the (substantially statistically large) "less is more" consumer.