The "Kindle" iPod of reading - Newsweek scoops

[edsohsmith]

If the ultimate goal of Amazon.com is to sell as many ebooks as possible, wouldn't it make sense to allow other book readers, the iPhone and pda's to use ebooks sold on Amazon? I can't imagine Amazon has changed their business model from being a book seller to a electronic hardware seller.

[Liviu_5]

Let's see what Amazon is going to do to emulate the "rip, mix, burn" slogan of Ipod with Kindle. That (and the cool factor) is what sells Ipods, not millions of songs in iTunes.

Without tons of free or very cheap content, Kindle will still remain a niche device. May sell twice or 5 times more as Sony but, to be the breakout envisioned will need to sell 100 times as much and that I doubt without the free content.

[igorsk]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70858

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by edsohsmith

If the ultimate goal of Amazon.com is to sell as many ebooks as possible, wouldn't it make sense to allow other book readers, the iPhone and pda's to use ebooks sold on Amazon? I can't imagine Amazon has changed their business model from being a book seller to a electronic hardware seller.

I agree. I think the content is the big revenue generator. That's also why I'm surprised at the $400 price point. If you want to get people hooked into your content network, make the price of entry low. Even the drug dealer on the corner knows that much about marketing.

If I were running that show I'd also let Sony add mobi support shortly after this launch. I can see why they may not have wanted to before since they didn't want people committing to a Sony before they saw the Kindle package. I'm assuming the network offerings are a good portion of the revenue potential for this project. They want to get as many people as they can in that stream and if they've got a Sony Reader already, they're less likely to buy another pricey gadget for only incremental improvement. However, at the point people can choose a Kindle, there's no point in cutting out all those potential non-network readers from giving you money. JMHO.

[kezza]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

Let's see what Amazon is going to do to emulate the "rip, mix, burn" slogan of Ipod with Kindle. That (and the cool factor) is what sells Ipods, not millions of songs in iTunes.

Sort of. The iPod didn't really take off until they opened the iTunes store. Before that it was very much a niche product. It's also worth noting that while the hype around the iTunes store helped propel sales of the Gen3 iPod, the selection was pretty crappy for the first 6 months or so. If Amazon or Sony can prove the desirability of their stores to consumers, hopefully the publishers will follow and generate the positive feedback loop that made the iPod so popular.

[mihalik]

Maybe this is already known but a search of Amazon books section for "kindle edition" yields 87,716 results. All listed as "Currently unavailable". That is pretty close to the 88,000 mentioned before.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by mihalik

Maybe this is already known but a search of Amazon books section for "kindle edition" yields 87,716 results. All listed as "Currently unavailable". That is pretty close to the 88,000 mentioned before.

Great find! Here it says results: Books (88,203)

Correction: You're right, putting the search term in quotes returns 87,716 "unavailable" results.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by igorsk

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70858

More here: Newsweek, November 26 cover, "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)"

"This is the most important thing we've ever done," Bezos tells Senior Editor and Columnist Steven Levy, the first journalist to have access to the Kindle, in the current issue of Newsweek.

I am not saying that I am jealous. No, I'm not saying it. I am not. Not jealous. No. NO!

Everyone should get next week's Newsweek, I guess.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by kezza

Sort of. The iPod didn't really take off until they opened the iTunes store. Before that it was very much a niche product. It's also worth noting that while the hype around the iTunes store helped propel sales of the Gen3 iPod, the selection was pretty crappy for the first 6 months or so. If Amazon or Sony can prove the desirability of their stores to consumers, hopefully the publishers will follow and generate the positive feedback loop that made the iPod so popular.

The statistics are clear. On an average iPod the digital bought content is about 5% the rest is ripped from cd's or other sources. Personally I think that at 400$ price tag there is no way Amazon will sell more than the Sony ball park of 100k a year (maybe 5 times but not more) unless there will be a lot of free or very cheap current content. Maybe newspapers will do the trick, though people are reading them on laptops, and while free wi-fi is spotty now, who knows what will be in 2-3 years.

Anyway, Kindle is great news since it pushes e-books to the forefront, and even if does not sell milions, a respectable mid hundred k's a year will keep it in business for a while.

[TadW]

Someone should sneak in tomorrow and report directly via mobile to us

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by TadW

Someone should sneak in tomorrow and report directly via mobile to us

Uhm, it's the other one, at Union Square.

[Alexander Turcic]

Look at the cover of the Newsweek.

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

...unless there will be a lot of free or very cheap current content.

I noticed a week or two ago the appearance of "Amazon Shorts" on their web site and bought and downloaded a $0.49 "short" by David McCullough available as a PDF just for kicks. I assume these are some of the cheap enticements which will soon likely increase in number and also be available in formats for the Kindle, too.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Look at the cover of the Newsweek.

That looks pretty much like the Kindle. Drats! the design's almost the same.

On the bright side it seems to be a paper mock up.

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

That looks pretty much like the Kindle. Drats! the design's almost the same.

On the bright side it seems to be a paper mock up.

I don't get all this worry about how it looks. Is it really important? Surely most of you would agree that functionality and cost are critical, yes? If so, then everything else is minutia, yes? If it had to look like an Etch-a-Sketch to have all the functionality you wanted, wouldn't you rather it did so?