Oprah endorsing Amazon Kindle was a big thing. At least that was the logical expectations when a heavyweight such as Oprah calls Kindle one the “best gadgets” she has ever had. But analysts are claiming that Oprah’s endorsement may not matter to Amazon until 2010!

Oprah’s endorsement has had some effect. And I think the effects will be more significant than some of the naysayers expect them to be. I have been a big fan of Amazon Kindle since day one, but I see two fundamental challenges for Amazon in the upcoming month:

• Economy
• Culture

The economy has hit and has hit companies hard. The tech companies are now feeling the effects (Sun Microsystems is cutting force and more companies will follow suit). Folks simply do not have money to spend on Kindle (possible solution: offering free interest financing for 12 months, lowering the price, an alternative monthly fee structure).

Many folks simply do not take Kindle seriously. We have gotten used to paper books, and sometimes it is hard to breakaway from old habits. Amazon needs to find ways to encourage folks to adopt Kindle. That could be done with major book promotions, early book releases, exclusive content, free starter content packs, and content distribution promotions.

Amazon Kindle is a wonderful device, but if people fail to justify paying $350 for it, then Amazon’s got a big problem. In these tough times, Amazon needs to bring its innovative ways to product management and content distribution. If not, even the mighty Oprah can’t turn the tide.

3 Comments »

November 15th, 2008 Len Edgerly Says:

I wonder if the Kindle and reading in general may actually benefit from the coming hard economic times, the way Hollywood flourished in the Great Depression. If people understood the literary riches available for free via the Kindle, and the savings on each book purchased, the initial outlay might be easier to handle. And your ideas about ways to finance the purchase etc. also seem worth Amazon’s consideration.

I also wish there was a way for Amazon to answer Sony’s placement of their readers in stores, because the more people have a chance to get their hands on a Kindle, the more they’ll be inclined to buy one.

In all the interviews I’ve done for my weekly podcast, The Kindle Chronicles, I’ve never found anyone who has give the device a serious try and decided they didn’t like reading on it.

November 15th, 2008 P. Rad Says:

I completely agree with you that Kindle is a hard to resist product. Call me naive but it pains me to see folks paying more attention to everything except books these days. I think the technology has made a few of us lazier than before. We rather watch DVD books instead of reading books. We rather watch movies instead of spending time learning or enjoying books.

But then again, I own Kindle and a bunch of other gadgets and I seem to find time for all of them.

December 23rd, 2008 Did We See an Oprah Effect? | K.indled Says:

[...] the ears of so many folks in the nation. I got to admit that when Oprah endorsed Amazon Kindle, I was a bit skeptic. I wasn’t sure if Oprah could encourage ordinary folks to pick up this revolutionary device. [...]

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