tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post6992096264539563370..comments2024-03-25T21:41:06.801-07:00Comments on Mobile Opportunity: Amazon Kindle: Not a home run, but an interesting startMichael Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17966107280587843091noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-35927400589746680432008-07-23T05:30:00.000-07:002008-07-23T05:30:00.000-07:00I was one of the "test subjects" for the device. I...I was one of the "test subjects" for the device. I have been using it for about 2 months and it has changed the way I read. The only complaint I had was that I was not able to use the device outside of my home. The books/mags/newspapers appear for all intents and purposes "instantly". It is actually more pleasant that reading a book. The screen adjusts for the light and the the ergonomics are perfect for me. I have a large library and can only see buying a "book" now if it does not offered on the Kindle or if it has great sentimental value.<BR/><BR/><A>Amazon Kindle</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-13921672561096138952008-03-15T20:26:00.000-07:002008-03-15T20:26:00.000-07:00Hmm...Uh, consider the alternatives—for books, not...Hmm.<BR/><BR/>..<I>Uh, consider the alternatives—for books, not music. If I want someone other than my wife and mother to read, say, a brilliant but neglected treatise in an obscure but important branch of mathematical philosophy, my royalties will be either zero (on the web, via semi-moderated sites such as ArXiv), or highly negative (dead-tree vanity publishing.)</I>> <BR/><BR/>Uh, this just isn't so. You can self-publish your eBook on, for instance, Lulu.com for no upfront charge. Anyone can download for the fee you've set, and you keep 80%. Sounds like a <I>much</I> better alternative to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-55859487585962052672008-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:002008-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:00It appears John Grisham and Tom Clancy are boycott...It appears John Grisham and Tom Clancy are boycotting (for now) the Kindle. That leaves a pretty big hole in your "virtual" popular fiction rack.<BR/><BR/>On the plus side though, I saw a good selection of David Baldacci and Nelson DeMille novels (including Gold Coast--arguably DeMille's finest work), so don't give up on the Kindle yet.Bradleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14505655342591219273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-20927852181457293702007-12-16T11:58:00.000-08:002007-12-16T11:58:00.000-08:00Good read,strange how operation companys vary thei...Good read,strange how operation companys vary their service in other countries though. Graham - www.logo-n-stitch.co.ukGraham Bedwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15539214191845171242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-37334838987846673302007-12-01T18:14:00.000-08:002007-12-01T18:14:00.000-08:00Thanks, Andras.Please drop by again in a few weeks...Thanks, Andras.<BR/><BR/>Please drop by again in a few weeks and let us know how sales are going.Michael Macehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17966107280587843091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-65607103074348270432007-12-01T07:44:00.000-08:002007-12-01T07:44:00.000-08:00I am new e-publisher for the Kindle. I also publis...I am new e-publisher for the Kindle. I also publish printed books via Ingram, and Amazons DVD and book manufacture venture CreateSpace.<BR/>Since I publish esoteric, new age content I do not do it entirely for the money. I agree with most points in your article and looking forward Amazon making positive changes next year.<BR/><BR/>Andras Nagy<BR/>www.andras-nagy.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-54707515985035466982007-11-27T16:39:00.000-08:002007-11-27T16:39:00.000-08:00Pretty much agree with you on the ugly aesthetics ...Pretty much agree with you on the ugly aesthetics and the annoying cost of the blogs/periodicals/ messages, etc.<BR/><BR/>As for books, I looked up Lee Child and almost all of his books are there. The most recent is 9.99; all the others are 5.59 or 6.39. Same for John Sandford; 18 books. Not bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-419528721666033332007-11-22T09:30:00.000-08:002007-11-22T09:30:00.000-08:00re: dedicated devicethe big deal about these ebook...re: dedicated device<BR/>the big deal about these ebook readers is the eInk screen.<BR/>I believe they should be an add on to a PC, an iPod or a PDA.<BR/>Something like the<BR/><A HREF="http://www.ricavision.com/ricavision_webupdate/ereader.html" REL="nofollow">RicaVision eReader</A> that uses (or rather will use) Windows vista SideShow technology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-76076198220193234292007-11-21T22:03:00.000-08:002007-11-21T22:03:00.000-08:00i just do not see a mass market for this type of d...i just do not see a mass market for this type of device.<BR/><BR/>but maybe there is one in textbooks. textbook publishers would certainly want as closed/proprietary device as possible to minimise the potential piracy; and a textbook device may not need the high tech gadget look and feel. it would just need a few big universities to make it the standard.<BR/><BR/>and there is A LOT of money in textbooks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-54669440174531971772007-11-21T16:34:00.000-08:002007-11-21T16:34:00.000-08:00I really do not see much of a future market for eb...I really do not see much of a future market for ebook readers. I see it in a similar segment to the dedicated word proccesser 20 years ago. That was an office appliance that was beleived to be unreplacable by the PC.<BR/><BR/>What I do like is the bussiness model of having the vendor pay the EVDO data charges. I was expecting this to be the model of the gphone when speculation was that it would be an ad supported handset. I truelly belive that the future of the big teleco will be as bulk airtimes provider to the actuall content providers. This is a start. The next step is that all cariers(in this case all CDMA carriers) should be supported so that coverage is a wide as possible. I am also a sceptic of WiFi or femtocells becoming a common access method. The technical support would become to complicated. Society wants to ditch there DSL anyways and goto an all wireless everywhere environment. Amazon is moving in the right direction there.<BR/><BR/>NEXT STEP: for amazon to offer the same service to users of sprint smartphones free of any data charge or FUP deduction from sprint.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-71037480210327282092007-11-21T09:48:00.000-08:002007-11-21T09:48:00.000-08:00There is one thing that is badly missing from the ...There is one thing that is badly missing from the Kindle in my opinion.<BR/>Even though it can be hooked up to a computer (both PC and Mac) there is no software provided at all.<BR/>from the Users Guide it sounds like the Kindle is a USB mass storage device, so users can copy documents onto it just like they would into any other folder.<BR/>I think a dock and an iTunes like program that syncs blogs etc. <B>from a computer via USB</B> would be a big deal and would boost sales... <BR/>I suspect that most buyers of the Kindle already do own computers, so why should they have to pay 1$/blog/month unless they're traveling?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-81542302298610551402007-11-20T20:44:00.000-08:002007-11-20T20:44:00.000-08:00Good comments, folks!Elia wrote:>>The problem I ha...Good comments, folks!<BR/><BR/><BR/><B>Elia wrote:</B><BR/><BR/><I>>>The problem I have is that it doesn't appear to support PDF documents. </I><BR/><BR/>I'd love to know if Amazon talked with Adobe about that issue. You'd think that Adobe would love to have PDF compatibility in the device; that would just encourage more use of Acrobat. Maybe Amazon wanted to keep the device closed. Or maybe Adobe wanted royalties.<BR/><BR/><BR/><B>Flash wrote:</B><BR/><BR/><I>>>What matters is books you haven't already paid for. </I><BR/><BR/>Good point. A lot depends on the book buying patterns of Amazon's target customers. If there's a substantial number of people who just buy off the bestseller list and don't care so much about backlist, then maybe Kindle works. You've got to assume Amazon knows the behavior of book buyers better than anyone else on the planet.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, even if people don't plan to buy a particular type of book, how will they feel <I>knowing</I> that they can't do it? Will the perceived loss of versatility make them hesitate before buying? We'll see.<BR/><BR/><BR/><I>>>Uh, consider the alternatives—for books, not music. If I want someone other than my wife and mother to read, say, a brilliant but neglected treatise in an obscure but important branch of mathematical philosophy, my royalties will be either zero (on the web, via semi-moderated sites such as ArXiv), or highly negative (dead-tree vanity publishing.) </I><BR/><BR/>Another good point. But the number of people who own Kindles is going to be only a small fraction of the public for a long time, so your potential audience is tiny. The situation is bad for authors no matter what.<BR/><BR/>By setting the royalty rate so low, I think Amazon is leaving a big opportunity for competing e-book companies to come in and create a better market for authors.Michael Macehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17966107280587843091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-73610528557979585762007-11-20T11:10:00.000-08:002007-11-20T11:10:00.000-08:00For the weblog at Rubicon, I posted an analysis of...For the weblog at Rubicon, I posted an analysis of the Kindle strategy and its lessons for other tech companies. An excerpt:<BR/><BR/>"Unlike the early Macintosh, there's no technolust factor driving creation of electronic books. We don't think Amazon can get a lot of Kindle-only novels written. And at $399, Kindle is definitely not a giveaway product. So that leaves money-lust as the other motivator. To succeed, Amazon probably needs to convince the publishing world that Kindle is destined to sell in mass volumes. That is a high-expense, high-effort strategy..."<BR/><BR/>You can read the whole analysis <A HREF="http://www.rubiconconsulting.com/insight/winmarkets/michael_mace/2007/11/lessons-from-amazon-kindle-for.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>. There's no registration required.Michael Macehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17966107280587843091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-85781955629127694032007-11-20T10:42:00.000-08:002007-11-20T10:42:00.000-08:00> Amazon's [self-publishing] royalty structure is ...> Amazon's [self-publishing] royalty structure is outrageous<BR/><BR/>Uh, consider the alternatives—for books, not music. If I want someone other than my wife and mother to read, say, a brilliant but neglected treatise in an obscure but important branch of mathematical philosophy, my royalties will be either zero (on the web, via semi-moderated sites such as ArXiv), or highly negative (dead-tree vanity publishing.) The former may be starting to matter (google "surfer dude physics"), but the latter never did.<BR/><BR/>From the vanity author's point of view, this could be huge if Kindle succeeds—enough so that Amazon may need to segregate the vanity authors from the real ones. Their default sort order of "best selling" may help with this, but my browsing of the Kindle Bookstore suggests it's not yet sufficient.Flash Sheridanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13677318551997068520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-84758055657425456572007-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:002007-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:00> the titles available from several prominent scie...> the titles available from several prominent science fiction<BR/>> authors -- Niven, Brin, Asimov, Simak, Vinge, etc.... <BR/>> The selection is quite bad<BR/><BR/>Looking at the backlist misses the point, I think. (And I have to note that, despite his continuing prolificity, Dr. Asimov is technically still dead.) What matters is books you <I>haven't</I> already paid for. My highly unscientific sample of one science fiction title and one mystery title (George R.R. Martin and Robert B. Parker's latest) looked pretty compelling. Not only would I save a significant amount of money on books I'd buy anyway, but (an especially important factor given the width of Mr. Martin's books) I'd also save shelf space.Flash Sheridanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13677318551997068520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-28605757886295007802007-11-20T06:04:00.000-08:002007-11-20T06:04:00.000-08:00This seems to be as close as we have gotten to the...This seems to be as close as we have gotten to the "info pad" I would love to see. I am less concerned with the lack of titles (I too had a hard time finding appropriate materials) IF the "self publish" options were better.<BR/><BR/>See, I can email a Word file to myself, which means I can self publish, just like we "self-published" our own CDs to iPods in the early days. The problem I have is that it doesn't appear to support PDF documents. With PDF conversion, I could in essence build my own library of electronic books and publications that would make the thing very attractive.<BR/><BR/>I do agree that Wi-fi and free web browsing with wi-fi would have been a big missing piece for me, but for version 1 the Kindle would do the trick with PDF support.<BR/><BR/>Elia FreedmanEliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17515173441876386256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17898384.post-87162156607344721822007-11-20T01:36:00.000-08:002007-11-20T01:36:00.000-08:00For blogs, I'm assuming you could use Google Reade...For blogs, I'm assuming you could use Google Reader or Yahoo Pipes to (freely) all merge them into one blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com