05-01-2009, 07:43 PM | #1 |
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2/3 of Kindle Users Over 40
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05-01-2009, 07:51 PM | #2 |
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it is all about price point, and of course video games in the lower side of that distribution.
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05-01-2009, 08:05 PM | #3 |
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More like 2/3 of Kindle owners *who post to the Amazon boards* are over 40. I don't think that's a statistically random sample that you can generalize to the pool of Kindle owners at large.
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05-01-2009, 08:10 PM | #4 |
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Maybe all the cool people stay away from Amazon, and buy Sonys and Hanlins and iRexes....
But seriously, part of the reason might be that the Kindle is probably the easiest to use by a non-techie, and the most heavily advertised to the general population. |
05-01-2009, 08:41 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
In this case if they get the parents into the devices then as the platform matures the kids will have come to consider the readers like a piece of furniture or any currently ubiquitous device. Think the MP3 market went at it from the other direction based on the same sort of analysis? |
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05-01-2009, 09:44 PM | #6 |
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Just because it's not a random sample doesn't mean it's useless. First, you'd have to posit a good theory why the self-selected website responses would be different from random. Then, you'd have to show how that difference would be statistically signifigant. And even then, a large difference wouldn't invalidate broad conclusions. We can be reasonably confident that it's not 80% under the age of 40, for example.
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05-02-2009, 04:29 AM | #7 |
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Yeah but it's only polling 1380 people in a place where no sane person would ever be.
How many Kindles have been sold? 400,000? |
05-02-2009, 10:05 AM | #8 |
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I have no trouble believing this. It seems to me that many young people might not have enough disposable income to make spending almost $400 on a book reader seem like a good value proposition (especially in comparison to spending it on video games, beer, chasing the opposite sex, etc.), and they have more compelling options for spending their free time (like video games, beer, chasing the opposite sex, etc.). Then when you get older and more settled and start to slow down, you rediscover the joys of reading. At least that's what happened to me.
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05-02-2009, 10:29 AM | #9 | |
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so of course the sample under 20 sucks, kids hate to read for the most part. its more of an adult passion. also, while most of my friends read, the teenage girls are more into fanfiction than novels (though they do pick up novels once in a while) while my brothers group of friends, none of them read at all. they are too busy getting stoned. |
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05-02-2009, 10:57 AM | #10 |
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I've seen this report a couple of places, and everyone mentions disposable income and free time, which are surely factors, but I suspect the larger issue affecting the value equation for older people is eyesight and eye strain. Adjustable print size and a comfortable display are the main reasons I hear for why people 1) are reading from any electronic device and 2) are using eInk rather than a more flexible LCD device like a netbook or iPhone.
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05-02-2009, 02:23 PM | #11 | |
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Self-selecting sites are by definition different from random. If they were the same as random, they wouldn't be self-selecting. |
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05-02-2009, 04:57 PM | #12 |
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Self-selecting is also different from worthless. We all know this data should be taken with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean we can make no inferences.
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05-02-2009, 08:37 PM | #13 |
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Well, I don't know if the poll is correct or not, but the results didn't actually surprise me all that much. There's the adjustable font size and screen quality, as taosaur brings up, for starters. I never cared about things like that until I was in my 30s and suddenly discovered eyestrain.
There's also the question of being able to afford an e-book reader, as Talldog mentions. I imagine most kids just can't afford it, unless an adult will buy it for them, for a birthday or Christmas, perhaps. And a kid who does have that kind of cash may feel social pressure to spend it on a device that is perceived as cool by other kids (or tweens or whatever). (Though personally I can't imagine anything cooler than a magic book, I can see that there are benighted, ignorant people who don't share my opinion.) And a Kindle is specifically made to be minimally technically demanding, so it is unlikely to scare off people who didn't grow up with technology. So I don't know if it's correct, but it wouldn't surprise me much if it were. |
05-02-2009, 08:55 PM | #14 |
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Personally, I've wanted something like this since I was in university. I would've had a hard time affording it back then but I would have saved up or bought one used. Even though I still didn't have much disposable income when the first ebook readers came out, I would have bought one if the selection of books had been better.
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05-02-2009, 10:00 PM | #15 |
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If "young people" can afford a $400 video game system, accessories, and games, they can certainly afford a Kindle. I have one, I'm under 40, and I'm on the K2 boards off and on... but I don't visit the boards all the time because I have little use for them. And while I saw Bruce's post about it, I didn't respond because I think it's pointless to respond to questions like that.
The people who are generally on the boards are those wanting advice, and the few dispensing advice. Younger people, being more comfortable with technology, won't be on the boards as often asking questions. So yes, I'm going to say that the sample isn't random. The types of people who are on the boards daily and responding to polls are (in my opinion as a 20-something) going to be my mom's age, 50+ |
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