Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

Jack McKeown at Paid Content has a good post on Why eReader Adoption will be slower than People Think. In it he points out the painfully obvious i.e. Baby Boomers and Matures (not sure if that’s the correct term for the earlier generation so using The Silent Generation from now on) are the bread and butter of the Books Industry.

Jack McKeown has this to say about Baby Boomers and Matures and their impact on Books -

According to R. R. Bowker’s Pubtrack 2008 Consumer Book Survey, book purchasing is becoming more concentrated among avid book buyers, defined as those who purchase a minimum of 12 books per year.

Standing tallest are older Americans—the Baby Boomers and “Matures” born prior to 1965. These groups constitute 54% of the U.S. population but account for 67% of all book purchases.

This skew likely will trend beyond 70% as the 78 million Boomers downshift into retirement and find themselves with greater leisure time for reading and browsing.

67% of all book purchases. Already.

In the past I’ve written about how the Kindle is well suited for Baby Boomers and how the Kindle is close to being the ideal Baby Boomer eReader. 

However, my thinking has changed in two ways -

1. The Kindle is good – However, its not the ideal Boomer eReader yet. There are some improvements Amazon could do. 
2. Kindle seems so much better because eReader makers in general are oblivious of the fact that 70% of their target market are Baby Boomers and The Silent Generation.

It’s not the 19-year-old who you hope will make your eReader cool.

Perhaps, Instead of trying to ‘convert’ young kids into readers, eReader makers ought to focus on people who are already buying books – lots of them.

What are the eReader features that are important to Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation?

It’d be great if Boomers and the Silent Generation jumped in and added their thoughts.

To me it seems the features they would like are -

1. Great usability. 
2. Easy to get books i.e. wirelessly. You shouldn’t have to drive to a store every time you feel like finding a book.
3. Very readable screen that’s easy on the eyes.
4. Great customer service. Preferably someone human to interact with.
5. Wide range of books.
6. Good value for money i.e. reasonable eReader prices and reasonable ebook prices.
7. As Light as possible.
8. Compact size so it’s convenient to handle and carry eReaders.
9. Easy one handed reading.
10. Text to Speech like the Kindle’s Read To Me.
11. Simple design that minimizes the amount of effort i.e. no placing buttons where you have to twist and turn to get to them.
12. Wide range of Font Sizes including some very big ones.

What other features make sense? Let us know.

What are eReader makers doing to address this?

Not much in general. Amazon is – However, we need lots of eReader makers to be thinking about 70% of their customer base.

Then we’ll have people come up with true innovations that really add to the eReader value proposition.

Sony Reader and Baby Boomers

Sony is killing its prospects with Boomers and the Silent Generation -

1. The Touch Edition makes readability worse – a total deal killer.  
2. The placement of the page turn buttons is terrible. There was a comment from a reader who has arthritis in her hands and the Sony didn’t work for her at all.
3. The way notes work makes reading with one hand impossible.

Thankfully they are adding wireless downloads in their Daily Edition in December.

Kindle and Baby Boomers

While the Kindle does a good job, there are a few things Amazon ought to consider doing -

1. Increase the largest font size on the Kindle 2.
2. Make the Kindle DX lighter and add page turn buttons on both sides.
3. Add an Auto-Scroll feature so we don’t have to press page turn 500 times per book.
4. Include a reading light with the Kindle (not on the Kindle itself necessarily).
5. Include a stand i.e. just something you can attach to your Kindle or is in-built into the Kindle that lets you prop the Kindle up.
6. Make the Kindle’s Menu Font Sizes changeable or make the Menu Read To Me capable.
7. Add Voice Controls.

The wireless downloads, Wikipedia access, free Internet, cheap books, and Read to Me are all good features. The focus on reading ties them together well.

We’re 75% of the way there.

It’s time Amazon finished what they started and created the ideal Baby Boomer eReader.

New eReaders are starting to come around

While some of the newer eReaders are completely missing (or just don’t care about) Baby Boomer needs.

For example, Asus has a dual screen eReader that is guaranteed to be devilishly difficult to read one handed. Plus its LCD screens aren’t good for your eyes.

There are other eReaders that are adding big innovations -

1. Sony’s Library Finder service is a good addition.
2. If Barnes & Noble’s sharing/lending feature gets through that’ll be a big value-add.
3. B&N and Txtr are both adding social features which are great.  
4. Amazon has been reducing the price steadily and has also added refurbished kindles at really low prices.

Closing Thoughts – Where is the Boomer eReader?

Why not release an eReader focused exclusively on the 70% of the eReader market that Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation represent.

If we can have a Cool-er why can’t we have a Boom-er?

It’s all well and good for journalists to write about how the Kindle isn’t cool because young kids aren’t toting it around. Who cares?

eReaders are meant for people who read books and buy books. Most of those people are Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. Perhaps it’s time we stopped trying to make eReaders sexy and just made them work for the people who want them.

Amazon is the only company that seems to have gotten the memo.

No wonder the Kindle was the device that finally ignited ebook sales. Everyone else was trying to create a sexy reading device for people who didn’t read and didn’t care.

Filed under: kindle, thoughts Tagged: | kindle baby boomers, kindle boomer