In the past couple 6 months, we have heard so many times how Kindle doesn’t support PDF ebooks and as such it’s useless. Now I have explained a few times here and there on this blog that Kindle is actually able to read your PDF books but of course you need to convert it to Amazon’s format (which can be done for free). So why am I talking about this issue again? Because it’s astounding that after almost a year that Kindle has been out, people are still claiming that the Sony Reader is comparable with the Amazon Kindle. You know, I wished I worked for Amazon and got paid for defending their product, but comparing Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle is like comparing Apples and Oranges at this point. A device that has no internet connection its own cannot be compared to a device that comes with lifetime internet connection. I don’t doubt that Sony Reader is well-designed, and it’s great that it supports PDF files. But in my experience, 95% of PDF books can be converted to the Amazon format. Besides, with the conversion service that Amazon provides, you can convert your ebooks to the Kindle format for free or as low as .10 a book (includes wireless delivery). Sony Reader may support PDF and have a slightly better design but that’s pretty much all that is going for it. So I would stick with my Kindle for now.

So with Amazon running a $100 off promotion on the Kindle (with Chase), there are a few people who want to jump in and take advantage of the current price as long as they can. A few days ago, with the Kindle rumor machine running wild, there were good reasons not to take advantage of this deal. But now that we can say that there probably won’t be a new Kindle any time soon, you may want to rethink your decision on this offer. It’s true that if you don’t have an urgent need for a Kindle, then you are better off waiting for Kindle 2.0. At the same time, Kindles make awesome holiday gifts, and you can’t wait till March 2009 to give someone Kindle as a Christmas present. So if you have a loved one who can use Kindle right now, then this offer may be right for you. Other than that, I don’t believe the offer is that attractive to potential Kindle buyers (unless you spend a lot of money on Amazon, which would justify getting the new feature rich Amazon credit card).

Kindle has been around for a while, but surprisingly a lot of people are finding about it these right now. When it was released, people were complaining about its lack of compatibility with PDF files (?) and its high cost. Now, the whole PDF issue was blown out of proportion as you can convert most PDF files to Kindle format and play it on your Amazon Kindle. The cost was high at first, but I find the $359 price tag to be reasonable, considering the free wireless service that you get with your Kindle. But now at $259 (the limited time price), you would expect people to stop complaining so much about Kindle. But here is the new complaint that is going around the net: a laptop does everything a Kindle does and therefore is a much wiser option.

Well, here is why Kindle TKOs a Laptop when it comes to reading:

• Portability: Even the lightest laptops can’t hold a candle to Amazon Kindle. Kindle is simply made for the portable life. If you are on the go all the time and you would like to keep up with your favorite newspapers, blogs, or books, Kindle is a hands down.
• Convenience: a laptop is great for reading ebooks that you already have, but it does not allow you to download new ebooks in less than 30 seconds (unless of course Amazon offers your favorite books in PDF format as well). Kindle on the other hand is linked to your Amazon account, and one can argue that buying from the Kindle store is the fastest way you can buy a book anywhere.
• Experience: I don’t know about you, but my eyes hurt after an hour of reading an eBook on my MacBook. I also can’t really take to bed and use it to read books before my asleep. With Kindle, it’s so tiny and convenient, that you can take it anywhere and read your book in any position, even when you are half asleep. Besides, I have never read a book on my laptop and said afterwards, “boy, it felt like I was reading a real book.”
• Price: Most laptops are more expensive than Amazon Kindle, and you wouldn’t buy a second laptop just to be able to read eBooks. Besides, Laptops don’t come with a wireless plan, so you have to take that into account as well.
• Battery Life: Amazon Kindle beats any laptop in the market in the battery life department hands down. No laptop can go for a week or even 4 days all the way without needing a recharge. If you are reading a book on your laptop, you’ll either have to be plugged in all the time, or you need to turn your laptop off after 4 hours MAX (if you don’t have your adapter with you).
• Features: comparing a laptop and a Kindle is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges. Kindle comes with features that are specifically designed for people who like to read, a lot. Whether it’s bookmarking, taking notes, or researching on Wikipedia, the Kindle has it all. A laptop is simply a laptop. It can do a lot of things, but it is not designed specifically for reading.

Am I suggesting that you should choose the Kindle over a laptop, if you don’t have a personal computer? Absolutely not. The Kindle is designed for people who read a lot of books and can use a separate device for that purpose. The Kindle can’t handle Microsoft Word or other software solutions, so if you need a laptop, you should get a laptop. That’s the whole point. A laptop is used for a lot of different things whereas the Kindle is used for reading (or listening to audio). That’s its purpose. It’s perfect for college students, but not so much for programming C#. Would you buy a car when you want the whole bike riding experience?

What Apple has done with the iPod and the iPhone is simply incredible. You have a cult following for both products, and people simply can’t remember how they lived without them. Apple has not only created innovative designs with both products, but its customer-centric strategy has led to an eco-system that now expands into multiple markets. Amazon is no Apple, but it is still one of the most innovative companies in the world which knows what it’s doing. Considering where Amazon has been and where it’s gotten, there is no question that Amazon has the potential to push its competitors like Apple has in its own market.

But how close is Amazon to having a product such as iPod? The Kindle is probably the first step for Amazon to try and test a few markets. Amazon has done a decent job integrating its online store with the Kindle and wireless system behind the Kindle is simply the decisive against Amazon’s competitors. But Kindle is no iPod. It’s more useful than an iPod (if you are old school like me). But to the young generation, reading a book is like visiting an art museum. It’s fun once a year, but not much fun after. iPod on the other hand is about fashion, entertainment, and much more. So what does Amazon need to do to make the Kindle the next iPod?

• Target the younger audience: Amazon is doing the good job with bringing top books to the Kindle platform, but it simply has not properly targeted college students. By bringing more college text books and working with colleges and universities to promote the Kindle, it can become a part of the young’s everyday life.
• Add Entertainment Features: the Kindle is more about education and learning than entertainment. Sure you can entertain yourself with a good novel, but other forms of entertainment are still preferred. I wonder if Amazon would consider working on a product that can handle the Amazon Unbox video system. Amazon has done deal with Tivo in the past, but making Kindle a portable video player would be the next step. Let’s not forget that educational videos have become very popular in the past couple of years.
• Add Community Features: I have talked about the need for an SDK for the Kindle several times on this blog, and I think Amazon will introduce that very soon (depending on the success of Kindle 2.0). But Amazon simply needs to develop a cult following like Apple. Apple is a very good case study for any company, so Amazon should borrow a page from their book.
• Add Interactive, collaborative Features: let’s say you read a good book and you want to share a sentence that you have liked in that book with a friend of yours on Facebook? Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to do that on your Kindle? How about sharing your class notes with your fellow classmates wirelessly? This probably would put a huge burden on the whispernet, but I think it’s worth it (even if offered as a premium feature).

Amazon can not just put its hope on people suddenly becoming heavy readers again. By accepting that fact, Amazon can follow the path that iPod has in the past few years. But at the end of the day we may see a clash between the iPod/iPhone and the Kindle. Is that inevitable, that’s a question for another day.

I took a bunch of innovation classes when I was in college. These types of classes are great as they help you think differently about how things are done and how you can improve them. So I put the following question on LinkedIn a while back to see what people may want to see in a remote:

If you wre to add one feature to your remote, what would it be and why?

The answers that I got were mostly on how you can make remotes cooler. Of course, making something look cool doesn’t necessarily mean you are innovating. So here is my question on Kindle. If you were to think outside the box and add one feature to Kindle to help its evolution (as an alternative to paperback books), what would it be and why? Very interested to hear your thoughts.

Unless you haven’t been paying attention, many major paper newspapers are struggling to meet the ends with advertising money declining and people using other channels to get the news. But if these guys had any chance of surviving, it is all but gone with the emergence of the Kindle.

Think about it. Would you rather get your newspaper and have to carry it on a subway or use your Kindle and get it on the go. You can read it in a starbuck or anywhere for that matter, and it is way more convenient. And best of all, your newspaper never gets lost. I can’t tell you how many times I have not received my Wall Street Journal due to the fact that it was delivered to my neighbors. With the Kindle, Wall Street Journal comes everyday and there are no excuses.

One good thing about this whole Kindle thing is the fact that you can sample books and newspapers. I find that to be very convenient as you don’t have to go to a bookstore just to flip a few papes. And you don’t have to wait in line or do anything to get the book/newspaper delivered to you instantly. There are downsides to the Kindle as well, but you get so many positives out of it that you almost forget about the shortcomings.

I am an Amazon fanatic. Every service and feature that they add to their site, I try. Amazon Prime was one of the best services that I have ever tried with any company. They really sold me on the whole idea of 2 day shipping. I was reluctant to pay $79 to get shipping for free for a year. I thought I would end up losing money on the whole deal. But after a year of being with Prime, I have probably saved 10 times as much as I paid to Amazon.

But all good things have to come to an end. I am canceling my subscription to Amazon Prime. Why? Simply because of the Kindle. I am a serial book reader. I read 2, 3 books a week, and my book bills are more than other people’s gas and electric bills combined. So Amazon Prime gave me the opportunity to get books faster and with free shipping. But with the Kindle around these days, I simply don’t need Prime anymore. For orders over $25 you get free shipping on Amazon anyway. So if I need a book but it’s not urgent, I’ll use Amazon’s free shipping offer. But if the book is available on Kindle, then it’s a no brainer. Simple as that.

So here is my question for you. Do you believe Amazon Kindle is actually taking business away from Amazon Prime? If so, what do you think Amazon should do to make both the Kindle and Prime programs work.

A year ago when Kindle was being released, analysts from around the globe called Jeff Bezos out on his so called “terrible” idea. Many wrote off the eBook industry, and called Kindle a device with no “real use.” About 8 months later and we know that Kindle will have a sequel. Doesn’t mean that Kindle will be around forever. However, there is a good chance that the second generation Kindle will have more success than the first.

But regardless of how Kindle does, I believe Kindle will stay around longer than people think. Here is why:

• Resources: Amazon has plenty of books and resources to supply to Kindle users. Amazon has already pledged that they will try to bring about 90% books in the market to the Kindle platform in the next couple of years. If they do achieve that, then there is a good chance we will see a Kindle 3.0 and 4.0.
• Access: Amazon.com is one of the most visited sites in the world. All it means that Amazon has access to many pairs of eyes. Rest assured Amazon will use all in their power to push Kindle as hard as they can to put it in front of as many eyes possible.
• Risk: Amazon has taken a gamble on the Kindle and they know it too. If Kindle is deemed as a failure in the end, you can expect Amazon to suffer as they will have failed in the very exact thing that Apple succeeded.
• Reputation: History shows that as long as you succeed to create a cult around your product, you can lengthen your stay in the market. Amazon is doing the very same thing right now, and it would be hard to believe that Amazon will risk its reputation by discontinuing Kindle prematurely.
• The Boss: Kindle is Jeff’s baby. There is no question in that. If you see the video clip of him on Amazon talking about Kindle’s potential, then you realize that the guy loves the idea and the product. In my experience, when someone at the very top likes an idea a lot, no matter who stupid the idea, it will be pushed as hard as possible. I am not suggesting that Jeff will keep Kindle around if it’s a total failure, but he will give it enough time to succeed.

Which camp are you in? Do you believe Kindle 2.0 pretty much closes the chapter on Amazon Kindle? Or do you believe there will be a sequel? Please share your thoughts.

With Amazon Kindle 2.0 rumored to be release sometime in October, I am interested to know how much you are willing to pay for the new updated Kindle? I know a lot of people complained about the high price of Kindle 1.0, but will you pay possibly more for the new Kindle? (of course for more features).

With the new Kindle expected to ship out on October, here are the features that I believe Amazon will be adding to Kindle 2.0 or 3.0 to make it more compelling to more people:

• Kindle API: We have talked about the Kindle API in the past, but it would absolutely not surprise me if the Kindle programming platform was released sometime early in 2009. Call me ambitious but Amazon can do it.
• Kindle Apps: It’s not tough to borrow from Apple when they do everything right. Look for Amazon to sell Apps in their Kindle store as well.
• Internal HDD/Flash: Look for Amazon to expand on the current memory available on the first generation Kindle, especially if the new Kindle is as big as its rumored.
• Color Screen: We already know that the new Kindle will come in different colors. But what we don’t know is if it will have color screen as well. Well. It should!
• Subscription: Book subscription is the natural evolution for the old business model in the publishing industry. Don’t be surprised if Amazon allowed you to read all you can read for a monthly fee.
• Kindle-2-Kindle: Now this could be a stretch for Kindle 2.0, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon finally added the K2K sharing system so you should share articles and passages with your friends and family members.
• Kindle Affiliate Program: Amazon already has an affiliate program, but with Kindle Amazon can allow you to send a chapter of a book to your friend. If they like the chapter and pick up the book, you get paid a percentage or maybe a free book. Word of mouth marketing is extremely powerful!
• Starter Kit: If you remember the old days, the most annoying thing about buying a new gaming system was having to buy new games for it. That’s why bundling new products with a starter kit leads to a better customer experience. I expect Kindle to give away a couple of books for free with Kindle to help people test drive the device and come back for more.

In your opinion, what other features Amazon will be adding to the Kindle 2.0 and 3.0?