Thoughts on Kindle
Amazon.com's new eBook reader, Kindle, seems like a good idea -- I know that to many, eBook readers appear to be the classic "solution in search of a problem," but I recognize their use -- especially when it comes to reading daily periodicals like newspapers. And if anyone is poised to make this work, it's Amazon.com -- they're already deeply reaching into the retail book space, so this is a very natural evolution for them. And they have a pricing structure for new book releases that makes sense, and seems very reasonable; one might even suggest it's iTunes Store-like.
But I have some reservations about Kindle that make me doubt I'm going to buy one any time soon.
One is the appearance of the device. It has all the aesthetic charm of a public bathroom soap dispenser. It has a cheap plastic look to it that makes me think more of a prop from "Space: 1999" or another old sci-fi show than it does of something that's been designed and built in the post iPod, post iPhone era. Seriously. This device uses "electronic paper." Shouldn't it look more the newspaper prop we saw the moon shuttle passenger reading in "2001: A Space Odyssey" than a tricorder?
The pricing to download blogs through Kindle is ridiculous. I'd rather see them institute a flat monthly fee to cover bandwidth charges over the Sprint network Amazon is camping on that charge people per feed. That's ludicrous.
Do I really need another gadget in my travel bag, taking up space? This comes back to the complaint I had before about the design of the thing. It's not only the clunky white plastic appearance, but it's also the form factor. They say it's the size of a paperback book, but from the videos I've watched and the demos I've seen, it's the size of a large-format paperback, which I tend not to carry when I'm on the road. Hell, I'm loath to carry a small-format paperback, really. You've got to make this much smaller for me to really want one, Amazon.com.
And the price. $400. That's obviously an early adopter penalty fee. I'll wait a year or so and see where we're at. Hopefully the Kindle v2 will be close to release at that point, in a smaller size and at a lower price point.