I have argued many times on this blog about the merits of Amazon Kindle, and how I feel it is worth the money more so than Apple iPhone. But Apple iPhone is unquestionably the more popular gadget these days (with Apple’s promotion machine behind it). The good folks at PC World reported the other day that Apple will be cutting production for iPhone and have had to scramble to readjust their forecasts for the next quarter due to the financial crisis that has taken the U.S. by storm. 

I’d like to believe that Apple’s troubles are due to them overestimating the demand for the iPhone. But the fact is, Amazon may also take a hit in their sales numbers, even though Kindle has been a bright spot for them in this past quarter. But how much that enthusiasm negates the fear that folks feel in these volatile times?

I am not sure Amazon Kindle can move forward as fast as before despite all the praise that it’s getting in the press. This year promises to be one of the worst years ever for retailers, and folks are cutting their shopping budgets to prepare for the worst. I don’t know about you, but if I was in an unstable job with the economy in the toilet, I would too be hesitant about buying Amazon Kindle. Will Kindle survive these tough times? There is no reason to doubt it, but nevertheless, the numbers won’t be that rosy for Amazon in this and next quarter.

Your take: do you think Amazon will get hit harder by the financial crisis than Apple?

Let me rephrase that question. Will the new administration put technology at the top of its agenda? President Obama campaigned on education reform for 21 months. He talked about how he wants to provide a better education for our kids and make American children more competitive again. But will he invest in technologies such as E-ink and push devices such as Kindle in our schools?

That remains to be seen. I personally believe that technology is not a distraction but a facilitator. Devices such as Kindle go beyond what books can offer. They can make learning interactive and provide better ways for educators to communicate with the students. I am not sure where we will be in 4 years, when it comes to this new administrations education policies, but I know we will be better off than we are today if the promises are kept.

What are you thoughts? Are we better off with Obama when it comes to education reform? Please share your thoughts.

So Oprah finally endorsed Kindle. I know Oprah’s endorsement for Barack didn’t really push him over the top, but with Kindle, I am sure a whole lot of folks who didn’t know Kindle existed now get a chance to take a look at this great device.

Now here is my complaint about this whole thing. I haven’t lived in the U.S. for too long, but like many Americans I have developed distaste for marketing material and commercials. I am sure Oprah’s life was changed dramatically with Kindle, but it just sounds too good to be true. I am as big of a fan of Kindle as you can find. I was probably among the first batch of folks who got their Kindle. But for Oprah to come out and claim Kindle has changed her life after a year it’s been around sounds a bit of an exaggeration.

I am all for all the support that Kindle gets. I hope folks will not find Oprah’s glowing endorsement too good to be true and actually go and pick up the device. The economy is not great, but if you read books (which you should), then Kindle is a must have. Kindle hasn’t changed my life in an earth shattering way. But, it has made me more productive and helps keep me informed. I would have done the reading without Kindle, but I am glad that Kindle is here. Aren’t you?

I have talked about Amazon moving to a subscription-based business model for Kindle to help push it to the next level. The $359 that Amazon is charging for its eBook reader has been criticized by many folks as the reason behind Kindle’s modest growth over the past year. Kindle was supposed to explode into the market, and while it hasn’t done badly, Amazon is not getting an iPod-like push from Kindle. So I believe it’s time Amazon considered other business models for Kindle.

The subscription model can allow Amazon to offer the Kindle for free. By giving away the Kindle for free, Amazon can increase the adoption rate for its innovative e-book reader. In order to make that work however Amazon should try a monthly or annual subscription business model (which allows folks to access a certain number of books for free during the subscription period). So here is how it could work:

1. Design tiers of subscription: Gold, Silver, Bronze, whatever you may want call them. Allow Gold users to access the entire library of books on Amazon for $200 a year. You can limit the number of books available for free for lower tiers. Amazon has taken a similar approach with Amazon Prime, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon went there.
2. Provide Premium Service for Kindle: Amazon can also charge folks for additional enhancements to Kindle (some of them can be free though). It can work but I would go for the third option.
3. Provide a platform for developers to enhance the Kindle experience: similar to iTunes apps. Amazon doesn’t have to be the provider of premium apps. They just have to have a platform for folks to use to create enhancements for the Kindle.
4. Use the affiliate program to create a Viral effect on the platform: let’s say I buy a book on Kindle and I like it so much that I decide to forward it to a friend. If the friend buys that book, I get a percentage of it. That is currently not possible with Kindle, but think about the potential.

There are millions of other things that Amazon can do to improve the Kindle experience (e.g. adding color to Kindle). Will it get done? No one can say for sure. One thing is for certain though. The Kindle will be significantly improved in the next couple of years (just like iPod has during its life-cycle).

Now if you have been following this blog, you probably know I think Kindle is the best thing since the discovery of fire. Having said that, one major issue that I have with Kindle is its ergonomics. There is no doubt that Amazon could have done a better job designing the device. But what concerns me the most is the fact that I have not been able to avoid pushing a button inadvertently every time I touch the device. That could be a big problem if you are reading a book. Let’s say you decide to take a quick break. You put your Kindle down just to pick it back up a few minutes later. If you can’t stop pushing some of these buttons (next or back), you are going to flip the pages forward or backward.

Now I thought it was just me. I thought I had freakish fingers or something was in general wrong with the way I was holding the device. But it seems many folks have been complaining about this very fact on Amazon.com forums. So maybe Kindle 2’s new design is more significant that I thought it was (which is another reason to get the new Kindle).

Do you have the same problem?

Do you end up touching a button or two on your Kindle unintentionally on a daily basis? What would you change about the design of the first generation Kindle? Over to you!

I mentioned a few days ago that we are finally going to get our new Kindle this year. If things go according to the plan. The new Kindle that we know right now is very similar to the old Kindle. It’s practically the same size but is more sturdy. It also looks to be better designed (except maybe the keys). Having said that, there are again rumors from around the net that another Kindle will be released that will rival the IREX as far as screen size is concerned.

Like many of you, I like my Kindle very much and still think it’s been the best thing I have bought in the past few years. But a Kindle with a bigger screen and maybe color would be hard to resist at this point. So I really hope these rumors are true. I guess we will find out by next May. But I wonder how much would you guys be willing to pay for a color Kindle with a larger screen size? Is $600 to high?

A reader asked me a question about using Kindles once on the air. So I thought I’d share my two cents and hear what you guys have experienced with your airlines. When I got my Kindle when it came out about a year ago, I decided to take it with me to a conference in San Francisco. I was told at the time that Kindle should be checked out separately and the device should be tuned off right before the take off. I was also told that I can use it as long as the wireless is off. Now I have heard a few people who have had difficulty using Kindle on air-lines, and the policy may have changed by now. But I am curious to know if anyone has had any difficulty with using Kindle on a commercial plane. Please share your thoughts here.

The U.S. government supporting companies such as Amazon with their digital transformation efforts? It’s never going to happen, right? Well, I think it’s worth considering. We all talk about the Green movement to save the planet and take cars out of the roads and replacing them with Hybrid vehicles. I hear all about bank and insurance companies claiming that their paperless approach saves the planet. That is all fine and dandy. What I don’t understand is the credit that Amazon and other E-ink device makers don’t get for their efforts to convert people from using physical paper books to digital books.

I know, we are not there yet. Kindle or other e-book readers are not advanced yet, but with the improvements that I have seen in the iPod, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to have an eBook reader in a year or two that pretty much does everything you can do with a book. I am talking about a glorified Adobe Acrobat like ebook device, with color and all the bells and whistles. Maybe instead of spending on things that don’t matter, the government could give tax breaks to people who bought this more expensive eBook reader. I know a lot of people talk about the experience of reading paper books and how rich it is, but at the end of the day, a whole lot of people (especially the younger generation) would be more open to getting a cool gadget like Kindle to read their books, do their homework, and so on than going with paper books. Maybe it’s just me being too optimistic about a little device that is cool but not essential. But at the end of the day, if insurance companies are taking credit for going paperless, maybe Amazon and its rival companies should get proper credit as well.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Amazon seems to be juggling between multiple strategies to make the Kindle store more relevant. The Kindle store is great if you are a heavy Kindle user, but at the end of the day most people search for books on the normal Amazon store and not the Kindle store. Amazon seems to be introducing Kindle books sooner or at the same time (as they are doing with Brisingr) as paperback books to encourage people to pick them up from the Kindle store. I think releasing books earlier to the Kindle platform would be brilliant strategy to boost Kindle sales. After all, if you can skip the shipping process, and get books 2 weeks earlier than you would at bookstores, all of a sudden Kindle doesn’t look that expensive. We shall see if this strategy works out for Amazon but it’s certainly not that risky.

What are your thoughts on this strategy? Would you consider buying a Kindle if it meant you getting books 2-3 weeks earlier than most people?

Before I start talking about Kindle Share, I need to be clear that such service does not exist today. It may in the near future as Amazon plans the release of Kindle 2.0, but so far we have not heard any rumors about this future being included in the near future. But a feature like Zune music share seems to be such a good fit for Kindle. I have read numerous books on my Kindle, and there have been numerous instances when I have wanted to share what I was reading with a colleague or friend on their Kindles, but that is not easily possible at this point. I don’t know about you but Kindle would be even more addictive if you could use it as a viral device. I would assume that Amazon can even increase their sales through Kindle store with this feature.

The main challange for implementing such feature is having a connected device (which Kindle certainly is). So if Microsoft can pull it off with Zune, there should be no problem for Amazon pulling that off for Kindle. Maybe they are working on it for Kindle 3.0 or maybe it is already planned for Kindle 2.0. Regardless, this is an area that Amazon needs to address to achieve iPod level success with the Kindle product line.