NYTimes: Two lessons from the Kindle's success

[Alexander Turcic]

If you were among the chorus sounding the death knell for e-book devices, I recommend the following article, in which Saul Hansell of the New York Times tells us what he has learned from the unexpected Kindle's success.

Lesson #1: Don't underestimate the miracle that happens when you make something really easy for people.

Lesson #2: Just because Steve Jobs doesn't like it, don't give up your idea. It may still serve a market. Somewhere. Out there.

Link: NY Times article

Do have any more lessons from the recent boost in e-books? We would love to hear!

[TadW]

Quoting Rick Aristotle Munarriz from the Motley Fool (on the recently reported Kindle sales targets by a Citigroup analyst - "$1 billion in 2010"):

That's typical Wall Street for you. It either fails to recognize that there are two sides to every story or misreads the obvious plot points in the next chapter.

This is also my lesson I like to share with you.

[Tom90deg]

From the wonderful Terry Pratchett novel, "Going Postal", "That was an important rule of any game: Always make it easy for people to give you money."

Kindle has made it really really easy for people to give them money, if it was any easier, it would probably be called theft

[carld]

But will he feel victim to the temptation to believe that the Kindle is the only right answer and refuse to offer e-books for other devices?

I have to say that for Amazon the Kindle is the only right answer. I don't see them ever offering ebooks for other devices. Why in the world would they undercut their own reader? Not to mention the technical and legal difficulties involved.

[Over]

Originally Posted by carld

I have to say that for Amazon the Kindle is the only right answer. I don't see them ever offering ebooks for other devices. Why in the world would they undercut their own reader? Not to mention the technical and legal difficulties involved.

Amazon is, above all, a book seller. By supporting other ereaders, they would make their market wider, and that would be good for their business. I see the Kindle as another way to make people buy books. I don't think Amazon needs to max out their Kindle sales, if that means narrowing their potential book buyers.

The only reason why they don't sell for other ereaders is because, right now, the ebook readers are fairly new. If they can monopolize ereader sales as well as ebooks sales, great. If not, then they can just focus in their primary mission: sell the books. For now, Amazon will still give it a shot and try both.