Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

Here are some of the headlines that pop up when you search for ‘kindle’ or ‘iPad’ on Google News -

1. iPad may kill Plastic Logic. 
2. Apple’s iPad will kill netbooks.
3. Will Vooks be the Kindle Killer? 
4. Neofonie WePad is an 11.6″ Android-based iPad Killer.
5. Palm can revive with ‘iPad Killer’ WebOS Tablet.
6. iPad kill ebooks that we know.  
7. Apple iPad Killer: Palm webOS Tablet PC. 

All these are from just Sunday – a day that sees the least amount of articles.

Why the fascination with devices killing devices/eReaders?

There’s no obvious reason that springs to mind -

1. eReaders and devices aren’t really sentient beings. 
2. It’s doubtful such headings are attractive any more – they’re repeated so much the impact is lost.
3. It’s a little unlikely that every single eReader released will kill the market leader.
4. If a device does get more sales than another device there are still the #2 and #3 spots.

There’s no originality – The same ‘kindle killer’ and ‘ereader killer’ articles spring up with every single new eReader/device release.

Some of these articles border on absurdity -

1. How will the iPad kill Plastic Logic when the latter isn’t even released yet? 
2. Palm is going to kill the iPad?  
3. Neofonie WePad is going to kill the iPad?
4. Vooks are going to kill the Kindle? 
5. A lot of these devices aren’t even available yet - How can they be killing each other?

We should impose a ban on the use of ‘killer’ in any articles discussing eReaders

Here are the penalties for violating the ban -

1. The writer of the article will be forced to look at and hold an actual eInk screen ereader.
2. For articles that are especially ridiculous (WePad killing the iPad, Vooks killing the Kindle) the author will be forced to actually read an entire book on an eReader.
3. Writers using particularly inflammatory language such as ‘does nothing other than reading’ and ‘LCD and eInk are no different’ will be forced to work for a month for The New York Times covering eReaders.

After the first few writers have experienced the pain of actually reading a book on an eReader they’ll spread the word and we should see an end to this kill/killer madness.

Filed under: thoughts Tagged: | kindle killer, lack thereof