Comments on: Why the Kindle will fail http://www.stephenbolen.com/2008/05/15/why-the-kindle-will-fail/ Designer, musician, omnivore Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:53:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Stephen http://www.stephenbolen.com/2008/05/15/why-the-kindle-will-fail/#comment-5 Stephen Fri, 16 May 2008 19:22:35 +0000 http://www.stephenbolen.com/?p=12#comment-5 @ Cat Faber: Points well taken. My big beef with the Kindle is the price tag to features ratio. If Amazon would have rolled out the device with a $150 pricetag and same-priced books (and eliminated the delivery charge), I think they would have sold more units and pushed across more content. Sadly, I see the Kindle treading into Apple Newton territory -- a great device that does a lot of things people want it to do, but with a high cost barrier. If I wanted a computer, I'd lug around a computer -- I don't need one that awkwardly fits in my pocket or on my belt. The biggest nail in the coffin (IMO): Hipsters can't nerd out their apartments with pretentious Yukio Mishima novels on their shelves. :-) @ Cat Faber:

Points well taken.

My big beef with the Kindle is the price tag to features ratio. If Amazon would have rolled out the device with a $150 pricetag and same-priced books (and eliminated the delivery charge), I think they would have sold more units and pushed across more content.

Sadly, I see the Kindle treading into Apple Newton territory — a great device that does a lot of things people want it to do, but with a high cost barrier. If I wanted a computer, I’d lug around a computer — I don’t need one that awkwardly fits in my pocket or on my belt.

The biggest nail in the coffin (IMO): Hipsters can’t nerd out their apartments with pretentious Yukio Mishima novels on their shelves. :-)

]]> By: Cat Faber http://www.stephenbolen.com/2008/05/15/why-the-kindle-will-fail/#comment-4 Cat Faber Fri, 16 May 2008 18:47:03 +0000 http://www.stephenbolen.com/?p=12#comment-4 What you're overlooking is that the Kindle makes it possible to have books that *weigh nothing and take no space*. That alone made it interesting to me (since the last time I moved, I had to box and transport well over a thousand pounds of books). Add in all the free e-books from Gutenberg Project and its several offshoots, as well as free and inexpensive e-books from places like Baen Webscriptions and FictionWise, and the Kindle looks even better. Then add in that even the Kindle books represent a savings of 20-40% over the cover price of Amazon paper books. And e-books have instant delivery. I figured out that if I bought only the Amazon e-books I would still break even in four years (not counting delivery fees, or what it would cost to drive to the store, or the fact that "bookshelves" for that many Kindle books cost 10$ (1 GB SD chip).) For blogs, well, web-browsing is not the Kindle's strong point. For most blogs you probably want a computer (except the New York Times Latest News Blog--which is a lot like getting a paper, only cheaper and without the recycling.) If most of your reading is blogs, the Kindle won't work for you. But it's premature to predict that it won't work for anyone. What you’re overlooking is that the Kindle makes it possible to have books that *weigh nothing and take no space*. That alone made it interesting to me (since the last time I moved, I had to box and transport well over a thousand pounds of books).

Add in all the free e-books from Gutenberg Project and its several offshoots, as well as free and inexpensive e-books from places like Baen Webscriptions and FictionWise, and the Kindle looks even better.

Then add in that even the Kindle books represent a savings of 20-40% over the cover price of Amazon paper books. And e-books have instant delivery. I figured out that if I bought only the Amazon e-books I would still break even in four years (not counting delivery fees, or what it would cost to drive to the store, or the fact that “bookshelves” for that many Kindle books cost 10$ (1 GB SD chip).)

For blogs, well, web-browsing is not the Kindle’s strong point. For most blogs you probably want a computer (except the New York Times Latest News Blog–which is a lot like getting a paper, only cheaper and without the recycling.) If most of your reading is blogs, the Kindle won’t work for you. But it’s premature to predict that it won’t work for anyone.

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