You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that Amazon Kindle has been in demand for the holiday season. Let’s not forget that it’s a cool device and the absolute best gift you can give to a serial reader. Amazon probably miscalculated the demand level for Kindle which is why it’s out of stock till early 2009. But that hasn’t stopped folks from searching for Kindle on Google.

TechCrunch has a story on this whole issue. The good folks at TechCrunch talk about how folks are searching for Kindle and Sony Reader. I agree with their assessment that Kindle is still the top dog in this niche. The problem is, folks are hoping to buy something and get it now, not 3 months from now. If I were Sony, I would use all this to my advantage. Think about it. How likely is it for folks to buy both the Sony Reader and the Kindle?

To be fair to Sony, they have been offering discounts for Christmas and the holiday season. But the trouble is, the Sony reader is just not good enough yet for folks to want to buy it, nor are iRex, Plastic, and other similar devices. Amazon has changed the game dramatically with their ebook reader, and Sony and other rivals have a lot of catching up to do.

Having said all this, it’s still astounding that Amazon underestimated the demand for the Kindle, especially for the holiday season. It could have sold more than 1M Kindles instead of 800K+ had they not dropped the ball here.

What’s your take: do you believe the Kindle being out of stock has hurt Amazon in a significant way?

We are only days away from the release of Sony PRS-700BC, the alleged Kindle killer. Sony has been in the e-Book business for quite sometime. They have invested a lot of money in it, and this is a fight they are not going to give up anytime soon. But let’s see how they stack up.

Display: Sony PRS-700BC with a 6″ display. It’s has about the same real estate than Kindle on the surface, but it comes with touch screen technology.

Keyboard: unlike Kindle, PRS700BC comes with a digital finger touch keyboard. While its easy to use your finger to turn pages or bookmark them, I still would like to have the keyboards too.

E-Ink Technology: rumors are going around that Sony is using the new generation E-ink technology that will be used with Kindle 2.0.

LED Light: I have talked about having the backlit feature on Kindle, but Sony has implemented this feature with PRS700BC. The problem here is that I haven’t heard the same feature being offered with Kindle 2.0. Shame.

Thinkness: Kindle is about 0.6″ in thickness whereas Sony PRS700 stands at 0.4″. So the advantage here goes to Sony. But both devices weigh about the same.

Memory: Sony does support SD cards and Duo cards. Kindle only supports SD cards. Both devices come with internal memories.

Price: Sony PRS700BC is priced for $399. You can get it for $299 if you get a Sony card.

Even if you get Sony PRS700BC for $299, you still have to think about whether the free life-time wireless service provided by Amazon is worth the extra $60. I think it is worth way more than that, which is why PRS700BC will not have a home in my house. But Sony PRS700BC still is a cool gift. I am just not sure why someone would go for Sony instead of Kindle for the holiday season.

Sony PRS-700BC is the new answer to Amazon Kindle’s dilemma for Sony. Sony did come out with a reader way before Amazon, but Kindle has jumped ahead of Sony Reader by offering features such as Wi-Fi connection, and the convenience of buying from Amazon store.

Well, if you have been waiting for an alternative to Amazon Kindle, you will get your chance on 11/14. I will have a preview of the device before then, but what I like about PRS-700BC is the way Sony is promoting it. 100 free ebooks are included with this device (which I think is an idea Amazon should use for Kindle 2.0). Stay tuned for the preview.