NY Times article about e-books and reading business

[SpiderMatt]

The New York Times just put up this article on ebooks and the future of reading. It's much more optimistic about the future of reading and has some figures people might be interested in.

The object we are accustomed to calling a book is undergoing a profound modification as it is stripped of its physical shell. Kindle’s long-term success is still unknown, but Amazon should be credited with imaginatively redefining its original product line, replacing the book business with the reading business.

Overall, it's a pretty good article.

[Cthulhu]

Thanks for posting, Matt.

Absolutely smashing article! How refreshing to have someone be *positive* about digital books, and praiseful of electronic readers.

Find it compelling that the person given the task of reviewing the object was thwarted by his own wife. Quite a testimonial, I would say.

Nice to have encouraging news regarding the "Brave New World" of digital texts.

[AdrianWerner]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Thanks for posting, Matt.

Absolutely smashing article! How refreshing to have someone be *positive* about digital books, and praiseful of electronic readers.

Find it compelling that the person given the task of reviewing the object was thwarted by his own wife. Quite a testimonial, I would say.

Nice to have encouraging news regarding the "Brave New World" of digital texts.

I wonder if this isn't actualy the whole point of Kindle. Amazon is a shop, not hardware manufacturer. I wonder if Kindle isn't just a convienent way to convince people to ebooks (with marketing blitz and easy content delivery). Kindle made more buzz around ebooks than anything before. People are actualy interested in ebooks. Of course it's not like they magicaly converted people, but Kindle made a lot of people think "hmmm... you know what? It might work" instead of usual "nah, paper for life!". I know, my father is a huge book maniac and he actualy is hyped for ebook devices A 60+ years old traditional book reader, who can't even use PCs correctly

Having it all centralized around one device helps a lot in early period. Less confusion, stronger marketing push etc
I wouldn't be surprised if in a year or two Amazon would open up their ebooks for all the other devices once people are "convinced enough".

[Cthulhu]

@ Adrian:

If Amazon plans to use the Kindle the same way that Apple uses iTunes (a loss leader to sell hardware, in a bizarre inverse example), I would be happy.. So long as--like you said--they open the formats, and leave other companies like SONY & Cybook (&) to produce hardware, the future could be a wonderful thing.

There are a number of features on the Kindle that many people said would be absolutely horrendous, and they seem to be big selling points for the device. It seems that there are people keen on both big Readers. Have never seen a Kindle in real life, but would be interested to check out its functionality, as regards the keyboard and this "Whispernets" they talk about.

On a side note, was in a Durham, NC Borders. As I checked out the PRS-505, somebody bought one, some giftcards (Am so happy these are available in stores!) and the employee at the kiosk said that they cannot keep them in stock.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by AdrianWerner

I wonder if this isn't actualy the whole point of Kindle. Amazon is a shop, not hardware manufacturer.

Amazon is not just a shop; though I used to share that opinion. When most people think of Amazon, they think of Amazon.com, a retail website and think that's all there is. Well, it's opposite to reality. The company behind the Kindle is not Amazon.com, but the parent company Amazon Technologies Inc. Amazon Technologies is a tech company that runs a retail website, but it is first and foremost a tech company. It has a number of different parts including lab126, the developers of the Kindle.

Anyone who looks at Amazon and thinks it is a retailer who recently expanded into hardware is someone completely misunderstands the mindset of the senior management. The fact that most underestimate Amazon could be one of its greatest strengths.


P.S. I don't mean to single you out; I just learned this stuff myself. Plus, even journalists (who should know better) have made the same mistake.

[Cthulhu]

Nate:

If what you say is true, that augurs well for the Kindle and its kin. If the device takes off, then they have resources to refine/grow a line a readers and similar devices. Maybe, if the executives are really behind the idea, they will stay in the fight to bring ebooks into the mainstream, bloodied yret unbowed.