The Kindle - Amazon’s answer to Gutenberg.

November 20, 2007

6032-newsweekkindle.jpg225px-gutenberg.jpgThis week Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, announced the Kindle. The Kindle is the latest product in the line of ebook readers, preceded by Sony’s Reader.

The ebook is technology’s answer to the printed word, a low-tech technology that has succeeded quite nicely for well over 500 years.

Here are the problems that Bezos is facing with his contribution to the ebook:

  1. The book fanboys - there’s a group of people out there who, based on their past experience with the old fashioned paper-and-glue books, refuse to accept that there might be a reasonably more efficient alternative. They cling desperately to the memories of their youth, when they could hide away from the cruel world and escape into fiction.These people associate literature with its smell and the feeling of paper rather than with the text itself.And these people are bullies. Let’s face it, in any market the luddites are the people that prevent consumers from trying new things. The threat of laughter or ridicule from this group of aging semi-elitists will cause a problem.
  2. The technology - the technology isn’t there yet. This category actually breaks down into several problems: the first and foremost being the exorbitant price tag. The price will have to drop significantly before an ebook can compete with a…erm… book…Another problem is that e-ink, the technology used in both the Sony Reader and the Kindle, just isn’t good enough yet. It hasn’t yet matched the contrast quality of the printed word.In order for this new technology to replace the old one, not only is it going to have to have equal readability, it’s also going to have to do something that the book can’t.

    And, I don’t mean any of the simpler things (ie: hold more text in a smaller space, and be lighter weight), it’s going to have to tackle a problem that the printed text attempts to solve but falls short on. In the same way that the cd replaced the cassette tape, the ebook is going to have to attack the printed word on its own turf and win.

When I try to imagine the perfect ebook it’s a thick card, about the size of a paperback, with a small control/handle. In my mind the ideal ebook is not only cheap (Possibly even disposable) but also very easy to handle.

The Kindle, with it’s QWERTY keyboard and EVDO access, although an interesting contender isn’t the replacement for printed text. Jeff Bezos may have over extended himself on this one, and I hope that the company isn’t relying on profits from the ebook. But, I will say, that I think a replacement for the book is on it’s way. When e-ink becomes better, the prices drop significantly, and the consumers learn to stand up to the book-supporting bullies of the world, I think consumers will run to the stores.

More Reading:
What I’d Rather Have than an ebook reader…
The luddite dream of Jeff Bezos
First look: Amazon’s Kindle Reader
Amazon’s Kindle
The Kindle: Books Don’t Need Saving
E-ink

Posted by flowersjustin | Filed Under blog 

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