Kindle Sales (Hardware) Appear to Be Way Down

[ProfCrash]

Puerto Rico, Tikal, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Ra all require a fair amount of concentration and thinking to play. Good stuff there.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Puerto Rico, Tikal, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Ra all require a fair amount of concentration and thinking to play. Good stuff there.

Oh, great, ProfCrash. Like I needed pointers to more ways to waste time.

[ProfCrash]

I am looking for people to play online...

[Scarpad]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I agree. Like you I have a ton of devices and don't need another.

What would maybe get me looking is if there were some big improvements on the software side of things on a new device as I don't think there's anything new and must have slated on the hardware end.

you hit the nail on the head, all these e-readers in some form or another have a deficiency in the way they do their main purpose reading e-books, look how horribly most handle organization of the libraries on these things, the Fire is beyond terrible and the Nook and the Kindle Touch are no great shakes either, they need to improve those things

[JeremyR]

I also think it's probably hurt hardware sales that the price of e-books are no longer a big advantage over physical.

I mean, why spend $100 to get an e-reader if you are just going to pay as much (or more) for e-books vs physical. The K3 really took off because it was relatively cheap and e-book prices were essentially capped at $9.99

[ProfCrash]

It is hard to see what they can do with e-readers to make them more attractive now. There are some small things, more control over font styles, spacing, and formatting, adding buttons to touch screen models, that type of thing. I don't think adding the lighting and all that is going to make a huge difference.

I agree with Jeremy, the K1 sold at an insane price because books were less expensive and so were newspaper subscriptions. I think the recent DOJ Settlements will improve the pricing of e-books and make them even more attractive for folks.

I do think the main audience for an e-reader are people who read a ton and are having storage issues or like to be able to carry a ton of books with them when they travel. Most of those folks probably have an e-reader by now.

For the person who reads fewer books a year, a tablet will work just fine and they do more.

[HappyMartin]

Take up of ereaders in some of the smaller markets like South Africa is only just beginning. It is mostly just word of mouth driving it and some Internet exposure. I have never seen an ereaders advert in the mainstream media. I am sure as these markets develope it will create further opportunities.

I think that in developing and third world countries there must be huge opportunities. We pay more for pbooks and the B&M stores are few and not at all good. Generally cell phone networks are well developed and Internet cafes are everywhere as many people do not have personal access to the Internet. All good reasons to get into these markets but up to now only Amazon seems to be paying any attention.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I did notice that on the latest Kindle Fire TV commercial, they showed a lot of people doing different things on their Kindle Fire (watching a movie, playing a game, etc) and not one of them was reading a book.

It doesn't portend well for the future of e-ink readers. Will we ever see a $50 reader? Will e-ink readers go back to being specialty items, in the $200 and $300 price range, rather than mass-market items?

eP

I bought my kindle last weekend from Walmart. $82 with a $30 gift card that I know I'll use. I'm still going to buy a tablet, and I'm going to buy another desktop computer this year. I think that eventually a lot of us are going to own all three items and use them for different purposes.

[WT Sharpe]

I don't understand why sales are off. I'm buying just as many Kindles as I ever did.

On a more serious note (from the article):

IDC released first quarter tablet sales data that had Kindle Fire shipments falling from 4.8 million in the Christmas quarter to less than 750,000 units last quarter.

Is it really fair to compare how many units were sold during the Christmas season with how many were sold for Groundhog's Day?

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Is it really fair to compare how many units were sold during the Christmas season with how many were sold for Groundhog's Day?

I think the answer to this is in the article Daithi linked upthread. I.e., these aren't measurements of Kindles sold, but Kindles shipped, and a lot of what they did was fill up the initial inventory. The article estimates 2 million or so Kindles sold in Xmas quarter, with the 1st Quarter shipments (again, not sales) being designed to refill inventories.

[Harmon]

If you figure that in a few short years, 6 inch android tablets will be available for under $100, then the only way I can see dedicated EBRs surviving is if they are sold below cost. If that happens, then EBRs become like razors - given away in order to sell blades, or in this case, ebooks.

But by having the Kindle EBR as a different division than the ebook selling division, Amazon appears to have decided that they will only sell EBRs on which they can make money. So it appears to me that Amazon plans to move to the Kindle Fire model, with a KF that sells around $100 or even less.

Meanwhile, there's an interesting argument that the epub/azw file standard will be rendered obsolete by technology. Check out gyrovague.com/2012/04/30/why-e-books-will-soon-be-obsolete-and-no-its-not-just-because-of-drm

So:

1. price of LCD based tablets goes down
2. manufacturing cost of dedicated EBRs turns sales into non-profit business
3. more & more ebooks come out in tablet oriented formats per the above article

Result: no more dedicated EBRs. And maybe Sooner Than We Think.

[wizwor]

The technologies converge when there is an inexpensive display that works well enough in daylight and darkness. I'm not sure that hasn't happened already...

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Harmon

If you figure that in a few short years, 6 inch android tablets will be available for under $100, then the only way I can see dedicated EBRs surviving is if they are sold below cost. If that happens, then EBRs become like razors - given away in order to sell blades, or in this case, ebooks.

But by having the Kindle EBR as a different division than the ebook selling division, Amazon appears to have decided that they will only sell EBRs on which they can make money. So it appears to me that Amazon plans to move to the Kindle Fire model, with a KF that sells around $100 or even less.

Meanwhile, there's an interesting argument that the epub/azw file standard will be rendered obsolete by technology. Check out gyrovague.com/2012/04/30/why-e-books-will-soon-be-obsolete-and-no-its-not-just-because-of-drm

So:

1. price of LCD based tablets goes down
2. manufacturing cost of dedicated EBRs turns sales into non-profit business
3. more & more ebooks come out in tablet oriented formats per the above article

Result: no more dedicated EBRs. And maybe Sooner Than We Think.

Repeating the same old line won't make it happen any more than putting out a mince pie for Santa works... Many of us already have both tablets and eReaders and still prefer eInk for recreational reading to using LCD screens. Tablets are fine for many things (and you can already get many perfectly functional tablets for less than £100) recreational and otherwise but, for straight novel reading, eInk wins hands down. Just because someone posts their ideas in a blog doesn't make them any more correct than those of us who don't need a blog to decide what we want.

Also if tablet costs drop why wouldn't eReader prices do the same like any other electronics products e.g. just seen 64GB memory sticks for £28... even a year ago such things would have been nearer £100... Gaming PCs were going to kill the console market... still going... even vinyl keeps going, maybe niche but still there... new doesn't necessarily eliminate older...

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Repeating the same old line won't make it happen... <snip> but, for straight novel reading, eInk wins hands down.

Seriously, lots of people read very happily on LCDs, myself included - in most circumstances I prefer it to e-ink.

Originally Posted by elcreative

Also if tablet costs drop why wouldn't eReader prices do the same like any other electronics products

I don't disagree, but prices fall due to volume (demand) and competition i.e. you get cheaper 64Gb memory sticks because they're being made in volume, by a variety of different manufacturers. This doesn't happen with e-ink screens because the supply has always been constrained (one manufacturer) and demand has been relatively modest e.g. in comparison to LCDs.

But anyway, as someone mentioned further up, the whole article is based on estimates of shipments, not actual sales figures; the only people who know for sure what's happening are inside Amazon, and they're not sharing.

Cheers, Pete.

p.s. that mince pie/Santa thing? Definitely works - teeth marks and everything...

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by petermillard

p.s. that mince pie/Santa thing? Definitely works - teeth marks and everything...

Mince pie would definitely not work. In my area, Santa wants cookies! Gingerbread as a preference, with milk (Santa gets his scotch later, after the work is done ). Oh, and a carrot for the reindeer.