05-04-2012, 12:18 PM | #16 |
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I think that the market is saturated with devices. The Kindle and Nook have been well marketed. Fifty percent of Americans do not read one book a year, most read no more then five books a year. So the sub set of heavy readers is pretty small and most of those folks probably have e-readers at this time. (shrugs)
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05-04-2012, 12:36 PM | #17 |
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Exactly. There's only so many people who would have use of them. And it's harder to engineer planned-obsolescence into devices that just need to put some legible words on a page.
We don't need more cores in our processors and who cares if a battery lasts 1 month or 2 between charges? I guess tougher screens and efficient "glowlights" would be nice, but that's really all I could ask for and I doubt even that would get me to upgrade. |
05-04-2012, 12:45 PM | #18 |
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The Kindle isn't really in competition with the iPad. The Fire isn't an "iPad Killer", but an attempt to take some of the tablet market. With tablets, and computers in general, the next model always offers some new features that seriously tempt people. Your old 486 computer may do the tasks just fine that a computer from 20 years ago would be asked to do, but few people would want one today, they need their computer to do more. But an e-reader is like a can opener. It does one task and does it well. Most will only buy a new can opener when it no longer works, and a lot of people feel the same way about their e-readers. If it still works for reading books, who needs a new one? Sure, some people want the newest model, but a whole lot of people just keep using single-function devives until they no longer work.
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05-04-2012, 12:50 PM | #19 |
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Jeff Bezos has been clear in many an interview that the sale of the Kindle and the e-book market are seperate business groups within Amazon. The Kindle is there so that people buy the device and than buy books. But the books are their own business entity. If we have hit market saturation for e-readers, and I would not be surprised if we have, we have not hit market saturation for e-books.
Due to the various apps that are available, Kindle books can be read on all sorts of tablets as well as e-readers. So the market for Kindle e-books continues to grow. |
05-04-2012, 02:07 PM | #20 | |
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Quote:
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05-04-2012, 02:21 PM | #21 | |
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I would like a reader with a battery life twice as long as my current one (I don't get a month). I would also like mine to be faster. I would also like better software. And higher resolution. |
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05-04-2012, 04:19 PM | #22 | |
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Quote:
$200? $300? Note that the iRiver HD has an XGA screen instead of SVGA. And the market yawned. |
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05-04-2012, 05:01 PM | #23 |
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05-04-2012, 07:01 PM | #24 |
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05-04-2012, 08:27 PM | #25 | |
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Quote:
(based on my admittedly few experiences with a Target demo model - it seemed low-rent compared to the other models on the shelves) |
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05-04-2012, 09:11 PM | #26 |
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Amazon's E-Ink Kindle Sales May Have Been A Disaster Last Quarter, so says The SF Chronicle and IDC.
Uh, No, They Weren't, and You're an Idiot, says PC World and Stephen Baker of NPD Group. Baker's analysis is basically that Amazon had way more Kindle Fires produced (around 5 million) than were sold in their initial release during the 4th quarter holiday season. So they didn't need to order as many in the first quarter. Amazon only ordered less than a million, but still sold nearly 2 million units in the first quarter. The Kindle Fire is doing quite well, thank you. |
05-04-2012, 09:22 PM | #27 |
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And we shouldn't forget that the Fire is still US only.
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05-04-2012, 10:40 PM | #28 |
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I don't think the market is over-saturated, though I do think that all the people who fall into the early adopters category have enough devices that incremental changes are not necessarily going to induce them to buy the 'latest, best ereader". I mean, I have five ereader devices (not including my computers), I really don't need another one.
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05-04-2012, 11:35 PM | #29 | |
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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. |
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05-05-2012, 03:51 AM | #30 | |
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Me for a reader to read.....
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I am a readerholic, as are all the family, and simply want a specific device that will further my enjoyment of reading - I only want to read, as easily, as well, and as simply as possible, not do anything else with it. Good colour illustrations are about the only major thing extra I'd like. I don't even use wifi much on the T1, I'm very happy with Calibre, it's simple and does the job superbly, and that's also what I look for in a reader. I do have different readers for certain circumstances - the 350 for travel, waiting rooms, Heathrow airport, etc... for example - but they are all for reading, not multi-entertainment centres. |
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