Amazonkindle: An iPod for Geeks
Hype surrounding the Kindle, Amazon’s new portable e-book reader, has been fairly subdued in Australia, especially when compared to the latest iPod or iPhone. No conspiracy however, its release is just bad timing. With all that election coverage, mainstream press space is scarce, and an oddity story about a product us Australian’s can’t buy yet are not high on the media’s agenda. This hasn’t stopped me from getting very excited about this product, and for the future of e-books. The concept is sexy; a portable reader that can download books, newspapers, and blogs from anywhere with mobile phone signal reception, but is also light enough to be easily transported on one’s person. Click on the image to the right for a demonstration.
The question is, will this product be a winner? So far, so good. It’s already sold out, even at the expensive asking price of $450US (or $436 Canadian, ha ha). Supply was low for testing purposes, so we can’t look too far into these preliminary sales figures. Nevertheless, the product would be very attractive to a large consumer base. Many people enjoy taking a book with them during their train ride to work, or even when going out for coffee. A device that stores up to 200 books that weighs about half as much as a large one will surely be a hit. And as the iPod has proven, people don’t mind paying large premiums for convenience. Hopefully this product gets released in Australia (for a substantially reduced price, I might add), there’s nothing worse than waiting for a shipment of fresh books, with origins of Amazon’s gigantic warehouse to arrive on our shores. Paying the shipping fee isn’t all that flash either, I might add.
Amazonkindle: An iPod for Geeks…
Hype surrounding the Kindle, Amazon’s new portable e-book reader, has been fairly subdued in Australia, especially when compared to the latest iPod or iPhone. No conspiracy however, its release is just bad timing. With all that election coverage, mai…
Trackback by kwoff.com — November 27, 2007 @ 5:53 am