Amazon’s Kindle – The Next Great Mobile Platform or Just a Novel Device? March 24, 2009
It’s been well written that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has not been forward with the sales numbers for the Kindle, thus it is difficult to compare how the device has done as compared to other new media devices like iPod. Some analysts have done some work on trying to uncover the truth around the sales numbers, with most estimates coming around the 300-500K mark since the device has been released.
We’ve only begun the see the development of the Kindle – Amazon just released the 2nd generation of the device to the public, and comparing the numbers to the iPod, if the analysts are right in the 500K estimations, then the numbers between the devices are fairly comparable:
I know it’s rather tough to tell, but when the iPod was only around the first or second generation of its existence, it was around the same level as the estimated Kindle sales. Of course we know what happened with the iPod around Christmas 2006. The Kindle has some improvements to make and some very tough decisions if they’re truly going to be the new device for print media consumption. Here are some thoughts I’ve had swirling around in my head:
- Newspapers are selling subscriptions on the Kindle, yet still giving away their content for free on the web. Seems odd – plus there’s a serious pricing issue here – take the Wall Street Journal for instance – They charge $9.99 per month ($119.88/year) for the newspaper to get delivered to your Kindle. Now I know that it’s nice to get it delivered whether you’re traveling or not, but if the newspaper subscription for the physical paper, and premium online access only costs $155 for the year, you’re probably going to go with the experience of having the physical paper. Plus, why not just get most of their content online for free anyway.
- The Kindle at some point needs to make a decision whether it’s going to be a mobile computing platform or simply a device for reading e-books. Thinking back to the iPod’s development – at first it just played music, then is added video, then it added a browser and a platform for developing platform specific applications. I think the Kindle can be successful if it chooses to simply be a device, though it will have to quickly embrace new cutting edge e-paper technologies.
- Perhaps the best course for the Kindle is to separate their product line into a newspaper product and a book product – which is what they already have. The possibilities for newspaper devices are pretty neat to think about, and certainly it would seem that with Amazon’s retail presence in the space and devices evolving, they are well positioned to lead the industry going forward. I’ll end the post with a visual of what I’m talking about in terms of a device – pretty amazing stuff coming down the pipe – please forgive the BS intro, the rest of the video is pretty cool:
If you’ve ever even been on a crowded train, you’ll realize that having an enormous piece of virtual paper that you’re swinging around and shaking is just going to be awkward. The product in the video would combine everything bad about the paper version of newspapers (bulky, awkward, annoying to dispose of) with everything bad about the electronic version (not permanent, hard to share, impossible to mark up.)
The kindle, however, is a great design. If I was on the train regularly again, I’d pay extra for a newspaper subscription on the kindle instead of having to deal with the paper version. I don’t see it as being weird that the journal costs more on the kindle; it’s a better way to read the news than on dead trees.