March 2010ZDNet's Jason Perlow, over a year ago (March 23, 2010), announced the burial of the Kindle during 2010, the article headed by a large image of a tombstone for the 'Amazon Kindle 2007-2010,' and said that April 3, 2010 (the Advent of the iPad) would "mark the beginning of the end for Amazon's great hardware experiment -- the Kindle."
And, Perlow felt last year that if the Kindle and Nook apps for iPad would continue to be viable, "...then by all means, put a fork in the dedicated e-book readers, they’re done."
August 2010
In August 2010, the Kindle 3 was released, and that changed things quite a bit. As others had predicted, the iPad and e-Ink readers were complementary, too different in their features to be compared, with any idea that one would 'kill' the market for the other).
May 2011
But give Perlow credit. Today he wrote a column titled, "Why I finally joined the Amazon Kindle bandwagon"
It's a somewhat tortured piece, explaining that he just thought it was too high-priced, too closed a system (though he'd mentioned the existing Kindle and Nook apps ready for the Ipad) and then adds today that he's "still a firm believer" that:
' "dedicated e-readers will one day go the way of the dodo bird — extinct. And I’m sure the future of the Kindle brand itself is almost certainly going to be in the form of a tablet computer running on the Android platform."Translation: "I was right but my timeline was off."
Why do I say that? He and his wife have bought two Kindle 3's for their vacation :-)
Why? Because Kindles are not LCD tablets! :-) They have an iPad but a dedicated e-Ink reader will meet their other needs.
He adds that he was right in predicting that e-reader prices would drop. That was a common prediction; we're talking Electronics!
The reason they've bought Kindles? The same reason that so many have chosen it (or the Nook, Sony, Kobo) while also buying tablets. It's far easier to read in bright daylight. And I guess that catchy pool ad got to him (I'm just teasing here.) What Perlow doesn't mention is that the Kindles are far lighter, easier to carry in a purse or pocket, and easier to hold for long periods of time, when you just want to read books.
I'm puzzled because he states that he firmly believes the Kindle will eventually be a tablet and to explain this belief, he links us to all the recent news stories about the Android tablets. WELL, they're just like iPads in basic features and readability, and yet he's buying two Kindles. :-)
In time, all our current gadgets/toys will be discarded for 'better' ones. That's a very safe bet. (I'm hoping for a vivid-color e-paper type screen that's as fast as an LCD one or a somehow-light dual screen solution someday.)
In the meantime, congratulations are in order. He didn't have to write a column saying he bought them, since he could have just been doing research. Hoping they do enjoy them.
Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), K3 Special, $114 DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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Note that B&N has quietly dropped the price on Nook 1Ed to $119 and $169 ($99/139 for refurb units on B&Ns eBay store). They seem determined to hit every possible price point between $99 and $249...we'll see how it works out for them. I did expect Nook 2ed to come out with a lower price, it has to be cheaper to manufacture than Nook 1ed, which is only $10 less...
ReplyDeleteTom,
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the touchscreen technology used in that it doesn't badly affect the readability?
And, its the old economies of scale thing for now?
While they're almost being bought, I guess getting a comfortable margin on the 'moneymaker' that Liberty sees is important.
I think that for people who understand the huge step that is 3G capability + no add'l data charges, there'd be more who'd want to buy, for $25 more now, that extremely useful and valuable, actually, feature even with screensleeper ads. Not to mention it's useable also outside the USA while the Nook isn't.
However, the touchscreen will be important to many just used to that. I'm in the minority in loving the NookColor screen for magazines/web while just finding the touchscreen keyboard impossible for doing emails.
One wrong pressure, too much warmth when hovering above the display and the links (usually the wrong one) will activate, losing me a slowly typed email on that virtual keyboard -- so I gravitate toward the clunky reliable physical keys (if that's my only alternative) though i'd love a better keyboard.
I think the Nook has a good thing going there if the early software is more reliable than we've seen with the first year of Nook eInk and the NookColor. That's the thing.