Amazon makes big Kindle push in U.S. schools

[derangedhermit]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Amazon can now offer up $199 FIREs *and* IT friendly remote administration and content delivery. That is stuff you only used to get with full PCs.

Uh, the US Gov't contract amount comes to $471 per Kindle.

[SeaKing]

I think that with a little thought, a basic Kindle could be made a lot more durable. I am thinking of the basic $100 dollar b/w model with $50 worth of gorilla glass and carbon fiber reinforcement with maybe a few metal rails, and some rubber bumpers.

They make notebooks like that now for servicemen. Phone installers, etc.

[derangedhermit]

Originally Posted by John F

http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-makes-b...--finance.html

The thing that stands out in that article is that "Yankee Group consultant" Carl Howe is completely ignorant regarding e-readers and e-books. Impossible to have bookmarks in more than one e-book at a time, is it, Carl? It takes about one evening for most folks to get that far in their discovery.

Maybe some folks here should write or call Yankee Group and offer their services.

[DustyDisks]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I think that with a little thought, a basic Kindle could be made a lot more durable. I am thinking of the basic $100 dollar b/w model with $50 worth of gorilla glass and carbon fiber reinforcement with maybe a few metal rails, and some rubber bumpers.

They make notebooks like that now for servicemen. Phone installers, etc.

Same or similar thoughts crossed my mind. The company could branch off with ruggedized readers for schools and other users that would like that option.

[derangedhermit]

Amazon will be rich, apparently forever, if they can establish themselves as the reading equivalent of TI in calculators in schools.

http://xkcd.com/768/

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Same or similar thoughts crossed my mind. The company could branch off with ruggedized readers for schools and other users that would like that option.

Heck, thinking about it, I would pay $50 more for something my grand child could sit on and it would be ok even if I was the one using it.

Now I don't expect them to build something I could sit on and be ok, but dropping it about 8 feet should be ok.

[DustyDisks]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Heck, thinking about it, I would pay $50 more for something my grand child could sit on and it would be ok even if I was the one using it.

Now I don't expect them to build something I could sit on and be ok, but dropping it about 8 feet should be ok.

Something like that would sell, of that I am sure.

I have known some people in life that could tear up a blacksmiths anvil using a rubber mallet. .....Well I maybe exaggerating a bit, but not by much.

A ruggedized reader/tablet would be great for kids, as long as they do not use it as a hammer or nail.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Now I don't expect them to build something I could sit on and be ok, but dropping it about 8 feet should be ok.

Oddly enough, this showed up today:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57...ard-literally/

The head of Microsoft's Windows division, Steven Sinofsky, decided to do something rather odd, and he tweeted pictures to prove it.

Sinofsky yesterday tweeted a picture of himself skateboarding on top of a Microsoft Surface tablet. The tablet had two sets of wheels strapped to it, giving Sinofsky -- helmet and all -- the chance to check out the durability of the device. In a second picture, he shows that the Surface made it out of the experience just fine.

A bit less draconian: LG is currently shipping small volumes of a plastic-substrate eink dispay. By next year it may available in Amazon-ian volumes so the next KPW may be kid-resistant.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by derangedhermit

Uh, the US Gov't contract amount comes to $471 per Kindle.

Uh, the thread where that was beat to death around here pointed out the government was to pay $100 or so for the Kindles and the rest of the contract value was for backend services and content.

[derangedhermit]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Uh, the thread where that was beat to death around here pointed out the government was to pay $100 or so for the Kindles and the rest of the contract value was for backend services and content.

Uh, I didn't say otherwise. Do you think the US Gov't is paying a lot more for desktop PCs? The last large contracts I was aware of, the price was about $600/Windows desktop - including services and apps.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by derangedhermit

Uh, I didn't say otherwise. Do you think the US Gov't is paying a lot more for desktop PCs? The last large contracts I was aware of, the price was about $600/Windows desktop - including services and apps.

Which is Proxmire accounting.
Wrapping-in necessary backend services and software and contract administrative overhead into the price of a generic product to make it seem as if the government is overpaying is an old and discredited tactic by now.
There is plenty of *real* government waste to point at so there is no real need to invent it where it doesn't exist.

Especially now that Amazon's "secret sauce" is out in the open.
The Kindles are priced at market price and the support services are not part of the Kindle price, they are separate line items.
(Just like those $600 desktops that usually come with extended 24-hour on-site maintenance contracts. Priced those lately?)

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by obsessed2

I think this is a better idea than outfitting students (and faculty) with $500 iPads.

A local school district did exactly that-

All of them get a district-provided iPad for the first time, so students will spend much of their first two days at an “iPad academy.” About 90% of the teachers became familiar with the educational uses of the mobile device during two-day workshops held over the summer.

Del Val is the first high school in the county to issue iPads to each student and many staff members, and everyone is learning not only the uses, but rights, responsibilities, restrictions and rules of usage inside and outside of the school.

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-d...school_te.html

It's not like we're in dire financial straits here in NJ or anything....

[teh603]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Which is Proxmire accounting.
Wrapping-in necessary backend services and software and contract administrative overhead into the price of a generic product to make it seem as if the government is overpaying is an old and discredited tactic by now.
There is plenty of *real* government waste to point at so there is no real need to invent it where it doesn't exist.

Where I'm sitting, and within a few dozen miles, people still believe it.

Edit: By the way, there's no real need for an iPad Academy the way some folks think there are. If a special ed kid with no concept of number or grammar can pick one up and spend all day playing games on one, anyone can use one.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by teh603

Where I'm sitting, and within a few dozen miles, people still believe it.

The $500 hammers and toilet seats?
Oh, they're right there with UFOs and bigfoot: Myths that will never die.
People believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts. And the folks in the political pandering media on both sides thrive off those folks.

[derangedhermit]

The point is that there's not much difference in cost between a $300 desktop Windows PC bought in large quantities and a $100 Kindle Fire (or an iWhatever, if they can be centrally managed, I have no idea) - by the time you add in the other stuff that comes with it that large organizations want with their hardware.