Archive for May, 2008
Does Amazon’s $40 Discount On Kindle Do Anything For You?
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under Polls
As most of you, Amazon reduced its prices on the Kindle by $40 to make it $359.99.
Loading …Amazon Drops Price on Kindle, now $359!
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under News
Amazon.com finally buckled under the pressure from its customers to drop its price on Amazon Kindle. The device that many of us bought for $399.99 and months of shipping, is now going for $359.99 and free 2-day shipping. Was it worth the wait? I don’t know as I couldn’t wait that long. I bought mine the minute I saw it on Amazon, and I have used mine way more than the $50 could make up for. How about you? If you haven’t bought your Kindle yet, get it or it may go out of stock again! You never know!
Amazon Kindle To Become iPod Of Books?
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under Thoughts
Are Amazon Kindle and Apple iPod comparable in their respective markets? I am not too sure about that. I think Amazon Kindle is more of a revolutionary innovation rather than iPod which is only an evolutionary innovation over other mp3 players in the market. Don’t get me wrong. iPod is still much more successful than Kindle. The fact that Amazon doesn’t like to share its sales data could be the indication for just that. Having said that, books can be eventually replaced with virtual books. It will all depend on how Amazon (or any other company for that matter) come up with a solution that provides the ultimate upgrade to current book experience. Kindle is not only an ebook reader, but an audio player, and even a basic GPS. The wireless connection obviously puts it on par with the new iPods if not on a higher level. But the fact that you can put 100 books on such a portable ebook reader makes it very different from an iPod. Sure! With an iPod you don’t need to carry multiple CDs with yourself. But if you ask me CDs are way portable than books. Can you compare Kindle and iPod? Sure you can. Are they almost the same beast? You better think again!
Kindle Still Unknown to the Tech Savvy
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under Thoughts
I made a point a few days ago on how Amazon needs to do a better job promoting their great device. While Kindle is a top gadget, it is surprising how tech savvy individuals have not either heard or used the device to the extent one may expect these folks to.
Today I had a chance to talk to a SVP of a reputable company about this great device, and to my great surprise he did not know what a Kindle was. He is a very technical person and follows innovative products all the time, so it was rather surprising he did not know what exactly Kindle was. No wonder why Amazon is not sharing those numbers with us. As great as Kindle is, one needs to accept that reading is not cool enough to most people in the U.S. A cool device such as Apple iPod Touch sells out immediately because people like to listen to music all the time these days. Unfortunately, the number of readers is dramatically less than the number of music listeners in the U.S. So that is probably why Kindle remains enigmatic but limited in terms of adoption rate.
Kindle Is Bringing New Hope to Technology Addicts
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under Uncategorized
So I did a search for the term Web 2.0 on Amazon.com, and to my surprise there were a few number of technology books available for the Kindle platform. That wasn’t the case a few weeks back, but it goes on to show that Amazon is willing to put 150% behind Kindle to gain a wider degree of adoption. Books such as Unleashing Web 2.0, How to do everything with your Web 2.0 blog, and how to do everything with Web 2.0 mashups are just some of the great technology books available for the Kindle platform. Let’s all hope Amazon doesn’t change its mind about the support it has put behind the Kindle.
Is Amazon Intentionally Hiding Kindle Numbers?
Posted by P. Rad | Filed under Thoughts
Amazon Kindle is a wonderful device. It is a potentially game changer and has rekindled the ebook market’s fire. Kindle is a portable and cost saving for consumers, and as an always connected device is sure to be the man’s next best friend on trips and on the go. But why is Amazon hiding the sales numbers of Kindle? Here are a few reasons that I can think of, which by the way may or may not be true:
- Amazon has failed to sell enough Kindles and they are afraid that revealing the numbers will blow apart all the hype that they have had for Amazon Kindle. After all, Amazon Kindle can’t be a revolutionary and game changing device unless its in people’s hands. If the number is too low, then that would be extremely disappointing not to the fans, but also to the investors and other stakeholders.
- Going back to the first point, Amazon could have intentionally released Kindle slowly to create the illusion that it is in high demand. But with no real numbers to back them up, the gig is up. Amazon may have delayed the shipments to create artificial demand, but that can’t last forever.
- Amazon’s failure to provide its customers with timely delivery will even look worse if the numbers are out. If the numbers are very low, then Amazon will look extremely bad as it shouldn’t take 30 to 60 days to ship Amazon Kindles.
- It could be that Amazon is buying time. Somehow someway they may be waiting for Kindle to catch fire, but this also would not work as the longer Amazon goes without disclosing the sales numbers, the more discouraged people get about the future of Kindle.
Amazon Kindle is a great device, but without a community of people using it, it will die a quick death. I put Kindle up there with the iPhone, but Amazon has not been able to generate enough buzz around the Kindle. I still get surprised when I have to explain to people what the Kindle is and how it’s worth $399 that Amazon is charging. I know that Jeff is behind Kindle, but I am not sure Amazon can sustain Kindle without a true big community of users. Maybe Amazon will try one from Apple’s handbook: price cut!