How much is Amazon missing by not having a waterproof Kindle?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by barryem

You can get a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite from Waterfi, a company that takes Paperwhites and waterproofs them and sells them on Amazon. In this or some forum a couple of years ago there was a discussion of this in which a number of people said they'd had good luck with them, but that's really all I know about it.

According to their website, Waterfi disassembles the Paperwhite and puts some kind of waterproof coating on all it's parts and then re-assembles it. This means that water can get in and it can't hurt anything so they don't have to seal the unit as a whole. Therefore no plugs on the ports, etc.

As I understand it Waterfil then provides the warranty which I think is also one year. I have no idea how reliable they are but I've never heard anything bad about them.

I think they cost about $100 more than the device direct from Amazon. I also think I remember that they'll waterproof your existing Paperwhite for $100. I read their website a year or two ago so if you consider this read it yourself. I might remember some of this wrong.

Barry

Why would you though, when you can buy a Kepler Pro and run the Kindle app on it? Then you get Bluetooth audio.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Why would you though, when you can buy a Kepler Pro and run the Kindle app on it? Then you get Bluetooth audio.

Because you want a Paperwhite.

Barry

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yes, from what I understand, it's the same technique that Kobo is now using for the One. But I also didn't understand their decision to make a new reader less than the current one it would have replaced. It should have been a smaller version of the One, with waterproofing, good screen and natural light, only smaller.

My guess is that the price for such a device would have been unsupportable. I suspect Kobo's development process for the Aura 2 was to select the price point first, their gross profit margin second, and then they figured out what they could afford to provide with those parameters. I don't think they were wrong, either; I think meeting the industry standard price on their 6" front-lit device was mandatory; another quasi-luxe device on top of the ONE and the H2O would have been a shot to the foot.

When the Two showed up, I read the writing on the wall and jumped on the Glo HD at the close-out price sale.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by barryem

Because you want a Paperwhite.

Barry

I thought I just wanted to read kindle books on a water resistant Eink Carta screen and buy books from Amazon directly on my ereader.

I don't look at the brand. I just read books. I have five brands of ereaders.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by barryem View Post
Because you want a Paperwhite.

Originally Posted by Phogg

I thought I just wanted to read kindle books on a water resistant Eink Carta screen and buy books from Amazon directly on my ereader.

I don't look at the brand. I just read books. I have five brands of ereaders.

I probably should have made it clear I was using a generic "you". As a southerner I should have said "y'all".

Barry

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Why would you though, when you can buy a Kepler Pro and run the Kindle app on it? Then you get Bluetooth audio.

How many people do you suppose have ever heard of the Kepler Pro? I've never seen one - have you?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm a little puzzled by the comment that ebook sales "didn't take off". I believe that for fiction, ebooks outsell paper books now, at least in the US market.

I'm missing something. The linked article has a link with the text "ebook sales declined last year" but the link seems to be self referential, just taking me to the top of the same page, so I can't see what they are basing that statement on.
Also, even if it's true, a one year dip in the market after years of growth may not really qualify as "sales didn't take off."

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'm missing something. The linked article has a link with the text "ebook sales declined last year" but the link seems to be self referential, just taking me to the top of the same page, so I can't see what they are basing that statement on.
Also, even if it's true, a one year dip in the market after years of growth may not really qualify as "sales didn't take off."

And a dip is exactly what you'd expect as the market matures. Most people who want to try out an eBook reader have probably done so by now, and there will inevitably be a certain proportion of people who try it out that it doesn't work for.

[pastaenthusiast]

I can only speak for myself but one of the major reasons I upgraded from the paperwhite to a Kobo aura one was the waterproofing. I spend a lot of time in pools and I love being able to read in the hot tub with no concerns (even if you don't drop a device in the steam is not great for non-waterproof devices, I hear). The aura one is a step up from the H2O because it's truly waterproof without having to worry about the port flaps opening.

I guess for me it made sense that if I was buying a new, expensive device I would not have to worry about ruining it through water damage. It seems like waterproofing is not that difficult for manufacturers to do so I don't see why kindle would not add it to new models for an extra selling point. Even if most people don't feel that they NEED a waterproof device I can't think of any reason to not think it's a beneficial feature.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by pastaenthusiast

Even if most people don't feel that they NEED a waterproof device I can't think of any reason to not think it's a beneficial feature.

It would all depend on how much it increased the cost. If it's thrown in for good measure with a lot of other features I value in a device: then sure, I'll take it, and "thankee, sir." But if waterproofing is a considerable portion of the "premium" device's price increase (or it's the primary new marketing focus for said device), then I'll pass. Bottom line is that it's just not a selling point for me. It's a non-factor I probably wouldn't even consider when deciding to purchase a new device or not.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by pastaenthusiast

I can only speak for myself but one of the major reasons I upgraded from the paperwhite to a Kobo aura one was the waterproofing. I spend a lot of time in pools and I love being able to read in the hot tub with no concerns (even if you don't drop a device in the steam is not great for non-waterproof devices, I hear). The aura one is a step up from the H2O because it's truly waterproof without having to worry about the port flaps opening.

I guess for me it made sense that if I was buying a new, expensive device I would not have to worry about ruining it through water damage. It seems like waterproofing is not that difficult for manufacturers to do so I don't see why kindle would not add it to new models for an extra selling point. Even if most people don't feel that they NEED a waterproof device I can't think of any reason to not think it's a beneficial feature.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It would all depend on how much it increased the cost. If it's thrown in for good measure with a lot of other features I value in a device: then sure, I'll take it, and "thankee, sir." But if waterproofing is a considerable portion of the "premium" device's price increase (or it's the primary new marketing focus for said device), then I'll pass. Bottom line is that it's just not a selling point for me. It's a non-factor I probably wouldn't even consider when deciding to purchase a new device or not.

This thread should have a poll to see how many of us, if buying a new reader, would be willing to pay a premium to get waterproofing and how many would only get waterproofing if it happened to be included on a moderately priced reader. I'm guessing the Kindle manufacturers are betting on more people being in the latter group.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

This thread should have a poll to see how many of us, if buying a new reader, would be willing to pay a premium to get waterproofing and how many would only get waterproofing if it happened to be included on a moderately priced reader. I'm guessing the Kindle manufacturers are betting on more people being in the latter group.

Pretty safe bet. There'd already BE a waterproof Kindle if they thought there was more in the former group.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

This thread should have a poll to see how many of us, if buying a new reader, would be willing to pay a premium to get waterproofing and how many would only get waterproofing if it happened to be included on a moderately priced reader.

Other manufacturers of waterproof devices have not typically needed to significantly increase the price to cover waterproofing.

The Aura HD was sold for $170, the Aura H20 sold for $180.

The Nook Glowlight sold for $120, the Glowlight Plus started at $130, only $10 more than the Paperwhite. And I'd bet B&N don't have the economy of scale that Amazon has.

You could argue that waterproofing while not raising the price cuts significantly into profit. Who knows. Maybe it does. Neither you or I run Amazon. But if waterproofing is prohibitive, why did Kobo keep it in the Aura One?

[Strether]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Other manufacturers of waterproof devices have not typically needed to significantly increase the price to cover waterproofing.

The Aura HD was sold for $170, the Aura H20 sold for $180.

The Nook Glowlight sold for $120, the Glowlight Plus started at $130, only $10 more than the Paperwhite. And I'd bet B&N don't have the economy of scale that Amazon has.

You could argue that waterproofing while not raising the price cuts significantly into profit. Who knows. Maybe it does. Neither you or I run Amazon. But if waterproofing is prohibitive, why did Kobo keep it in the Aura One?

One of the Kindle Oasis developers was interviewed by Len Edgerly and when asked about the lack of waterproofing, replied that it would have added additional weight so they decided not to do it. I suspect Amazon is content to have Kobo in business. Having no competitor in this market is bad juju.

Jim

[Barty]

Let's say Amazon comes out with a new voyage with exact same specs as old voyage but with waterproofing. How many people would upgrade their voyage. Very very few. How many people who have been thinking about getting a voyage would be tipped over by the waterproofing? A few more, but still few. Most will just get the old voyage for a discount.

I think the number of people who truly want a waterproof kindle -- as opposed to the people who think sure, why not, or the people who want any excuse to upgrade (you know who you are -- is very small. Even smaller than the number of people who want bigger than 6" screen.