Amazon Launched the Kindle a while back (about 8 months ago), and with that started a converation about the future of publishing industry. A lot of people commended Amazon for its innovative eBook reader, while a lot of people claimed Kindle was a big “gamble” that would surely backfire on Amazon.

But what Amazon did with the Digital Text Platform not only will revitalize the eBook industry, it will allow more people to enjoy electronic books on their Kindles. The Digital Text Platform which is still in Beta allows you to publish your books to the Kindle platform. In essence, now you can pull out the old articles that you have written, staple them together, and put them on DTP, and you are set to start selling your product in Kindle Store.

Amazon is going to make a lot of money out of their platform too. They essentially take 65% of what you sell. So if you sell a book for $100, Amazon will keep $65 and pay you only $35.  But the fact that the platform is there will allow more people to come out with their publishable content. I don’t really mind having more options available for my Kindle. The question is, will we ever get the price down to $4.99 per book in order to make it more affordable for more Kindle users?

I was reading one of the more popular Kindle forums out there, and one interesting question came up that I thought was very legitimate:

What happens to Kindles that get returned ?

I never really wondered about all the Kindles that were returned to Amazon. I am sure Amazon doesn’t destroy the Kindles that are returned. There were a few people who claimed that Amazon fixes the returned Kindles and sells them as new. Somehow I don’t think that’s the case. So, here is the question for the good people of Amazon: Where are the refurbished Kindles? Why are they not for sale for $199 or so?

Recently, I posed a question to the LinkedIn community about the Kindle and its future that I thought would be interesting to share here.

If you were an Amazon executive, what would you do to improve Amazon Kindle’s adoption rate?

There were many good points that were made by the good folks at LinkedIn. Here are some of the major ones:

1. Content is King: Many complained about Amazon’s lack of support for the Kindle. There are many good ebooks out there, but Amazon needs to do a better job to provide more useful content for the Kindle.
2. Price: Many felt that the upfront cost was a huge issue to potential buyers. Paying $359 for an ebook reader is a lot for the casual reader, so one way to go would be to cut the price by half.
3. Book fees: A few readers felt that Amazon Kindle books should be much more affordable than $9.99 a piece. I do agree that the books could be more affordable but I am not sure we will ever see a $.99 ebook. eBooks are different from songs and publishers and authors do not expect to sell as many ebooks as a songwriter would with his/her songs.
4. Design: There were a few comments about the “ugly” design of Kindle. I personally like the Kindle as it is, but Amazon can do much better. Also bring on the color and real Internet to Kindle, and you have a super gadget.

So what would you do to help the Kindle get off the ground more quickly? Would you reduce the price or even change the business model? Please share your thoughts.

Amazon Kindle has had its detractors over the past year. Many call the device “overrated” and overpriced. The fact is that while Amazon Kindle is a wonderful device, people are hesitant about parting ways with $350 of their hard-earned money for an ebook reader.

Here is the solution that Amazon may introduce with Kindle 2.0: Internet subscriptions. In essence, you get the device with a heavy discount. Let’s say Amazon gives out the Kindle for $50 (to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave it out for free). Then, they ask you to sign up for their wireless plans. They can have lifetime wireless plans or they can offer plans with low monthly fees to pay for the cost of the device.

I believe that a lot of people are more comfortable with paying $25 a month for 12 months rather than paying $300 up front. So these monthly subscriptions would make the device more affordable to more people.

At this point, I would be surprised if Amazon Kindle 2.0 did not come with a subscription fee. Kindle has been amazing and has its fans. But for Amazon to be able to justify the risk it has taken with the Kindle, it need to sell many more Kindles. One way to do that is to lower the prices (or give that impression), and charging monthly fees would be one way to go.

Would you buy a Kindle with a subscription fee instead of an one-time upfront fee?

I have heard many arguments about Kindle being expensive and people not being able to sell the books they buy on the Kindle platform. In truth, with current book prices, Amazon Kindle eBooks are not the best choice for people who are big book sellers. I personally keep all the books that I read. Books that I sell are often so low in quality that I rather take a loss and get rid of them.

Many readers sell books that they read as soon as possible and use the money to buy even more books. That’s also a sound approach. For these folks, Amazon Kindle books are not really attractive. You can’t resell Amazon Kindle books, and you can’t even share them properly (there are limitations).

So here is an idea? How tough would it be for Amazon to make DRM transfer possible on Kindles. In essence, you can sell Kindle books on Amazon to those who want to buy it. I think the technology is there. The only issue is that Amazon Kindle books don’t have conditions. In essence, if you put you book up for sales, you are competing with Amazon itself, and taking a cut out of their profit.

Another plausible approach for Amazon would be to have a buy back option. In essence, you can return the rights to the book to Amazon and get credit towards your next purchase. The downside to this approach would be the loss of sales commission fees on Amazon and loss of revenue. Right now, Amazon will sell you two books and you can’t return one whereas under the above apporach, you return the first book and save some money on the 2nd one.

I think both approaches can work if done right. Obviously Amazon needs to do the financial X’s and O’s to figure out which one is right. But giving Amazon Kindle customers the option to sell back their Kindle books could make Amazon Kindle even more popular. And sometimes, it’s worth it.

We are about 7 months after the release of the Amazon Kindle, and you still here bloggers and gadgeteers who complain about the Kindle. Some of the complaints are valid of course. But of them aren’t. Here are 5 top nonesense complaints that I have heard about the Kindle:

• Kindle only reads Kindle books: I don’t know who came up with this nonesense idea, but it seems to have worked against the Kindle. I have heard CEOs and some very smart people claiming that Kindle can not read PDF files. Of course, these people don’t have the Kindle for that reason. It’s more like the whole chicken egg idea. You are not going to buy the Kindle because you believe it doesn’t read PDF files, and you are not going to find out unless you see it by your own eyes (you would expect in this modern age that people read their blogs and newspapers at least once a week).
• Kindle comes with subscription fees: Once again this is absolutely not true. One of the strong points for the Kindle is the free wireless service that you get with the Kindle. Why would you pay $359 for a device that charges you $20 on monthly fees as well. Kindle 1.0 is simply not good enough for such premium.
• Kindle books are more expensive: where people get this from is still a puzzle to me. I understand that some Kindle books are going for as much as their paperback counterparts, but you certainly can’t claim that Kindle books are more expensive. Have you checked Amazon yet?
• Kindle has infinite storage: You certainly can’t expect a device such as Kindle to have 40 gigs of storage as it is now. I am sure Kindle 2.0 or 3.0 will allow videos and other storage heavy media types but with eBooks I think Kindle’s storage is good enough. Plus use your SD card to expand it. Kindle is not iPod or Zune and it doesn’t claim to be. Books take days to read. Music takes minutes to listen to. So it’s unfair to expect Kindle to have storage for 30000 books.
• Kindle is for the rich: Kindle is not a cheap gadget. But it’s more useful than some of the other gadgets that people buy for more than twice the price. If you ask me whether I want a Nintendo Wii or a Kindle, I’d take the Kindle. I am sure the teenagers may with the Wii, but that doesn’t mean Kindle is not worth its price. Kindle is not for show off. It is certainly not a luxury. I consider it a necessity for my job and a lot of other people do as well.

Have you heard any other unfair suggestions about the Kindle? Please share…

You see all these new products coming out with their own SDKs, allowing their users to add functionality to their gadgets as they wish. It begs the question whether Kindle needs a SDK as well.

The upside for the Kindle is huge. The potential is there, and with a better adoption rate, Amazon Kindle can truly achieve legendary status (maybe not iPhone level but close to it.)

I do believe that Kindle in its current condition does not provide programmers with enough flexibility to add useful functionality to it. However, with an enhanced color Kindle 2.0, you could certainly expect Amazon to take advantage and release their own SDK. I guess we will have to wait and see on this.

Amazon.com started as a book e-store really, and they have kept up with their tradition by releasing an eBook reader. Sure. Amazon has mastered the art of logistics, supply chain managenet, and marketing, but their root goes back to books.

Now Amazon Kindle is a big gamble for Amazon to take, but the one they needed to take to move away from just the physical book business. But many are questioning Amazon’s decision to go with the Kindle. The fact that we haven’t heard any rosey news from Amazon may suggest that Kindle is donig terrible. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kindle is not doing an iPhone in sales, but still the demand is there. And I think the opportunity is there too. Here are a couple of things that Amazon needs to do to make the Kindle dream a reality:

• Add more book, and do it fast. Amazon’s CEO promised that they will try as hard as possible to bring the most rare books to the Kindle platform. But how long it takes to do such thing is another question. Do it fast. Do it now!
• Lower prices! You can’t expect people to pay $7.99 for a book that is getting sold for $9.99 (paperback). You need to drop the prices to maybe $4.99 to make people want to buy the Kindle books.
• Focus on the right demographics. Amazon is trying to reach out to everyone right now with all the novels being available through the Kindle platform. But college students should be ones that Amazon needs to focus on. For one, they read a lot of books, and for two they don’t have a choice. Why not offer university books on the Kindle.

I am sure Amazon is trying its best to add more books to its Kindle selections everyday. Having said that, you can’t expect people to embrace a fairly expensive gadget without having the books they want to read available for it.

I am sure you are all familiar with the concept of X-to-X. Microsoft has used that (on a limited basis) for its Zune product line. With Zune, you can figure out if there is another Zune in your area, and you can share music with other Zune owners. I think the way Microsoft has implemented the idea doesn’t work that well, but if implemented correctly, an Amazon Kindle to Kindle feature could work. Here is why:

• Experience: Adding device-to-device connectivity only adds to Kindle experience. Imagine you are reading a good book on your Kindle, and decide to share your favorite passage or part of the book to another Kindle owner. Having the D2D feature for Kindlle will make that possible not only for books but also for newspapers, magazines, and blogs that are available on Kindle.
• WOMM: Amazon can definitely use the word of mouth marketing to its advantage to sell more Kindle books and newspapers. What Amazon needs to do is to add more popular titles to the Kindle. Once that’s taken care off, Amazon can count on its customers to do the work for it, partly that is.
• Communication: I have always had this idea that Amazon Kindle could be a good texting device. Obviously, if you don’t have anyone to text with, then you can’t find out.

Maybe Amazon will add these new features to the Kindle 2.0. But Amazon Kindle can go from an eBook reading device to a true learning/communication powerhouse if Amazon implements a feature such as D2D. I guess we’ll have to wait and see on this.

It is amazing how people find excuses not to buy the Amazon Kindle these days. First, there was the excuses that people were making about Kindle not being able to support popular eBook formats such as .pdf. Then it was the high price that Amazon was asking for the Kindle.But the latest excuse could be the most valid one yet.

At the time Amazon Kindle came out, it was going against iPod Touch, and the iPhone. The iPhone was going for $399 and the Kindle was going for $399, so there was no surprise that many decided to get the iPhone instead of the Kindle. Now with iPhone 3G being sold for only $199, one needs to wonder how many potential Kindle buyers will switch to get the iPhone instead.

There is no question that an ideal Kindle buyer might not buy the iPhone. There is some common area but there are few people who would consider only buying one of these gadgets. Unfortunately, we have more listeners these days than readers. How many people ready think about reading as a form of entertainment these days. It’s not to say that people don’t read these days, but buy the Amazon Kindle would be more reasonable to a business person or a gadget freak than an everyday Joe.

So will the iPhone 3G kill the Amazon Kindle? This question is not even worth entertaining. The Kindle is struggling because there are not enough frequent readers around, not because of the iPhones, iPods, and PS3s of this world.