It’s interesting to see the stark contrast in responses that the Kindle has been getting.
People who Love the Kindle
Stephen Marche at WSJ goes a bit overboard -
The globally available Kindle could mark as big a shift for reading as the printing press and the codex
Wasn’t that what the original Kindle was supposed to be?
Also,
- If by globally you mean ‘in multiple countries’ – It’s sort of inappropriate to forget Sony exists and claim that the Kindle 2 will become the first eReader available globally.
- If by globally you mean worldwide – You sort of have to include Canada and New Zealand and China before you can use the word globally.
The ending continues the Kindle love -
Kindle 2 isn’t really about what we may or may not want as readers and writers.
It’s about what the book wants to be. And the book wants to be itself and everything. It wants to be a vast abridgment of the universe that you can hold in your hand. It wants to be the transbook.
What the book wants to be?
People who dislike the Kindle
MobileRead did a survey of what UK eReader its readers would buy (the post specifically asks what eReader is the best deal) -
- Sony PRS-600 got 23 votes.
- The 300 got 5 votes.
- The BeBook Mini got 5 votes.
- The Kindle 2 got just 4 votes.
Kindle 2 is so far down the list?
So we think – Perhaps it’s the custom duties and shipping that rules out the Kindle 2 by making it too expensive?
No. The total price of the Kindle, including taxes, etc. is 217 pounds and they list it in the post.
Here are the total prices -
- Kindle 2 is 217 pounds including custom duties and shipping.
- PRS-600 is 229. The 300 is 159. That’s before checkout (whatever that means).
- BeBook Mini is 179.
Having the pleasure of owning both the Kindle 2 and the PRS-600, there is no explanation for why people would prefer a PRS600 without a wireless bookstore to a Kindle 2 with one.
Any thoughts on why MobileRead loves Sony PRS600 so much?
GLG Research hands Apple the eReader crown
A GLG research report (they usually have really intelligent write-ups) has already decided Apple is going to win the eReader wars -
Apple has everything going for them – they already have a strong platform to launch the e-reader.
Once they get around to increasing battery life for a backlit LCD display that will allow users to read documents & books in bright and low lights – there is no stopping them from taking over the e-Reader market.
Guess Apple doesn’t even have to launch a product to be crowned ‘eventual winner’ of a market.
People who spread misinformation about the Kindle
Money Morning asks – How Sustainable is the Kindle’s Early Success?
Then they add this gem -
Even though e-books are heavily discounted compared to their hardback equivalents, they are wildly profitable – costing Amazon just $1.50 per book, Credit Suisse Group AG analysts estimate.
Surely you’re joking, Credit Suisse.
Publishers get 40 to 50% of the book’s list price. Industry insiders have confirmed that on a lot of bestsellers Amazon pays them MORE than the $9.99 price.
By listing a random, unexplained $1.50 cost per book figure you’re misleading people – even if its unintentional.
Thoughts – Kindle UK facing the Kindle Effect
It’s disappointing to see MobileRead readers (who are pretty smart and tech savvy) write off the Kindle 2. The Sony Reader Touch is decent and though it’s not as good as the Kindle 2 its understandable that people who love openness (even though Sony does have DRM) would prefer it by a bit.
However preferring Sony Touch by a ratio of 6:1 and putting the Sony Pocket Edition and BeBook Mini before the Kindle 2 is inexplicable. Look at the range of books -
- You get 280K books with the Kindle and a wireless book store that goes everywhere with you.
- With Sony you get 50K or so books (in the UK, 100K in the US) and no wireless store.
We are talking about an eReader here – shouldn’t being able to read a wide variety of books be a huge concern?
Kindle UK getting killed by misinformation
Thanks to bad reporting and misinformation i.e.
- Alleged 40% Premium in the UK – without revealing that it’s actually VAT and wireless download fees.
- The random claims that it costs Amazon only $1.50 per book.
And to people who dislike the Kindle (Polls like the one on MobileRead) Kindle UK is getting overwhelmed – people aren’t getting a fair chance to see what the benefits and disadvantages are.
We’re seeing Kindle UK face the exact same adverse circumstances the original Kindle did. 2 years, and not much has changed.
Hopefully readers in the UK can avoid the bias and misinformation and see the Kindle UK as it really is.
Filed under: kindle international, thoughts Tagged: | kindle love
Before checkout means before tax and shipping fees.
The Sony PS-600 (Touch) is looking interesting. The price looks good, too, for the first-reader-buyer; it’s a little high for me, since it’d be a second reader for us; but if I were shopping for my first unit now, I might be swayed. It’d be a touch call. Current titles for Sony are priced as though they had boards, pages, and bindings; which I think is pretty wrong.
That said, I have noticed that even over the last few months, a few things on the e-ink reader landscape have changed.
The Reader product line very seriously used to be Sony’s redheaded stepchild. Even now, it’s hardly front & center on their Website; but I’d bet crazy money that if Amazon had never launched the Kindles, Sony’s Reader line would be floating belly-up and heads in that division would be rolling. Of course, we shall never know for sure. I can only say that the moment I saw that the PRS-505 did not have on-board searchability was the moment that I knew there was no way I could possibly buy one. The books are *electronic*, for heaven’s sake. It’s *insane* to treat them as though they were rigid ink on paper. That fact was not stated in the specs, by the way — I had to *deduce it on my own* based on the lack of any reference books in their bookstore. At that early stage Sony evidently did no research into how people actually read; or did not care. But. Sony is a *hardware* manufacturer; not primarily a bookseller. This confers a slight advantage over the Kindles, because Sony can care more about what functionality the user wants, and less about copyright, publishers’ antiquated approach to what they do, etc. The fact that it’s no skin off their nose to enable library borrowing and zillions of free downloads from Google Books is quite refreshing. And now that Sony has learned [from Amazon] about the needs of people who read in a serious way, on the PRS-600 (Touch), books are searchable; and one can underline and take notes — with a stylus, no less. Another step forward.
Yep. The Sony PRS-600 is an attractive product; and for those outside the U.S., it seems as if the process of acquiring e-texts will be a lot more streamlined for Sony owners than for Kindle owners, because everything is accomplished in the same way, and with fewer special rules & conditions. And: Osiander.de (a German online bookseller) shows more e-books *in German* available than I would have expected — already a selling point for the average German (and for me). Amazon is somewhat deluded if it thinks that *so* many Europeans read English for relaxation. A lot do, but not the majority of people who read; and only a subset of *them* will be interested in an e-ink reader right now. I mean, Germans really still do speak German all day long, the French mainly live their lives in French, Italians in Italian, etc.
In other words, the data you note above really aren’t all that surprising.
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