Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

This is what we currently have -

1. nook is supposed to be selling out with new pre-orders said to be shipping December 18th. In the last week the shipping date moved from December 1st to 8th to 18th. 
2. The Sony Reader Digital Edition is already saying that it won’t ship till December 18th to January 8th and that no delivery dates are guaranteed. Plus it was backordered as soon as it was released.

Which means that in a few days we’re probably going to have both nook and Sony Reader Digital Edition sold out for Christmas.

Kindle might be the only eReader left.

B&N and Sony are repeating the mistakes that Amazon made its first year and second year.

What happens if Kindle is the only eReader available for Christmas?

Obviously Kindle sales go up a lot. Amazon has figured out what the eReader demand is and what amount of stock is needed (at least up till now) and should be able to meet the increased demand.

The Sony Daily Edition is already out of the reckoning. Let’s say the nook is unavailable for Christmas starting November 25th.

That would mean –  

1. November 25th through December 24th – Kindle is the only eReader available.
2. People must either buy the Kindle or wait after Christmas – not a possibility with gifts or in general (delayed gratification doesn’t work well during holiday season).
3. The Kindle will clean up.

The grand Sony Daily Edition Vs nook Vs Kindle decision gets reduced to what is available and that leaves only the Kindle.

How could B&N and Sony miscalculate demand so badly?

 Being sold out over a month before Christmas is just terrible – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of unit sales lost here.

Here are a few factors that could explain the ‘out of stock’ occurrences -

1. It increases sales if readers feel they better order now. Of course, Sony are saying they might not ship till January 8th so they probably really are sold out.
2. Amazon’s secrecy means both companies totally underestimated the eReader market.
3. The eReader market has grown exponentially in the last few months and stock wasn’t enough.
4. As a commenter pointed out – it’s possible the yield on screens etc. was lower than expected leading to lower number of eReaders being available.
5. Some other reason.

The Irony

For two years in a row Amazon have messed up their holiday season by not having enough stock.

This year they will be able to make the most of holiday season – not because of something they did. No – it’s because both Barnes and Noble and Sony miscalculated demand.

Filed under: availability Tagged: | kindle availability, kindle christmas