Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

The arrival of the Kindle WiFi is absolutely great for the eReader market – Even the most anti-eReader journalist can no longer claim that the $139 Kindle WiFi is in a competition with the $499 iPad.

As a result of the $139 price we are seeing most of the Press finally figure out that these are two completely different sets of devices - that a $139 dedicated book reader is different from a $499 touchscreen tablet personal computer. It’s amusing that it takes such a huge price difference for the Press to realize the two devices are fundamentally different – Perhaps it shows how little the Press value reading. Regardless, it’s a huge breakthrough for eReaders.

Correction: It was a huge breakthrough for eReaders.

Unfortunately, Ars Technica is restarting the whole ‘there ought to be no such thing as a dedicated reading device’ movement with an article almost as poisonous as its diatribe against Ars Technica readers using ad blocking software.

Ars Technica tries to muddy up the eReader Market

There are so many mistakes in Ars Technica’s article it’s painful -

1. It claims the iPad/Kindle combo is proving deadly to the rest of the eReader market. So iPad is again an eReader? 
2. It claims that Android Tablets will occupy the gap in the eReader market created by the price difference between Kindle and iPad. So Android tablets are eReaders now? Given that they are called Tablet computers you would think they were multi-purpose Tablets and not eReaders. 
3. It claims that devices based on Pixel Qi technology are eReaders. Pixel Qi enables Tablets to be better for reading – it’s not a dedicated eReader screen by any stretch of the imagination.

It basically all comes down to a sort of tech elitism.

As soon as the Kindle WiFi manages to remove confusion around eReaders the Tech Elite tries to muddy up the waters

The $139 Kindle WiFi instantly clarifies things – It’s a device focused on reading, the eInk Pearl screen is a lot better than LCDs for reading, everything about the device is focused on reading. It’s also at such a low price, compared to the iPad Tablet, that you can’t really argue on ‘more than just reading’ or ‘value for money’.

Everyone got it. Even the main stream press were talking about Kindle and iPad and how they are separate devices.

This has to really, really bother a journalist if he’s part of the tech elite. The tech elite were trying desperately to kill eReaders because eReaders focused on people who read books and people who were not technically savvy. That’s the exact opposite of what the tech elite want – they want devices that are the flavor of the month and are built for them.

For who other than the tech elite could truly appreciate a device?

That’s where Ars Technica steps in. As flag bearer for the tech elite, who refuse to let any device cater to a group other than themselves, it is aghast at eReaders.

How could a device that doesn’t meet our expectation for cool, new technology do so well?

We decide what’s cool and what should sell. Reading isn’t cool. It’ll make people smart and then they won’t click on our ads or, horror of horrors, start using ad-blockers.

We have to kill off these eReaders. Let’s club them together with Tablets since Tablets have color and let you do more than just read.

So, naturally, Ars Technica tries to mix together Tablets and eReaders again and try to get us back to square one.

It’s a harsh realization – No matter how good eReaders and the Kindle 3 are for reading the tech elite don’t care. In their minds the fundamental problem is that the device is meant for reading and not as some sort of offering to tech fetishists.

The Perception war has ended but Ars Technica is trying to revive it again.

New ways to attack the eReader Market

Ars Technica is not alone in wanting eReaders dead and the rest of 2010 will see a lot more attacks. Here are some ways in which eReader enemies will attack the eReader market -

1. Try to claim eReaders aren’t measurably better for reading. Main Proponents: NY Times, Device makers making general purpose devices that want a part of the eReader market.  
2. Try to club together eReaders and Tablets and Phones as ‘generic eReading devices’. This will be tried by anyone who’s upset that eReaders are successful. They don’t want to admit that millions of eReaders are selling so they pretend that eReaders include Tablets and Phones and try to pass off ‘dedicated to reading’ eReaders as a small anomaly.
3. The ‘Value for Money’ argument. People who don’t value reading often try this approach. The $139 Kindle WiFi completely destroys this and we’ll see eReader haters and Kindle haters try out many different attacks to see what could work instead of this.
4. The ‘One Device to do everything’ argument. This is the classic loser’s choice argument – Why would you want a desktop computer that’s great for working, a phone that’s great for making phone calls, and an eReader that’s great for reading when you could replace them all with an iPad that’s not great at anything except multi-purposeness? Well, what’s the use of convenience when you have to compromise quality? To be fair there is some merit to this argument - convenience is a definite positive. However, we are very, very far from a magical device that can be all things to all people without compromising quality.
5. The ‘get a device that can do more than just read’ argument. This argument obviously won’t work on readers. However, it’s very dangerous for casual readers who would gladly try out a $139 Kindle WiFi or $149 Nook WiFi. If they read enough anti-eReader articles they will start re-considering their interest in a reading device. The only solution is to get eReaders into the hands of lots of people and show them that the quality of reading on eInk Pearl is good enough to make getting a dedicated reading device worthwhile.
6. Disrupt the supply of ebooks. Publishers are trying it with the Agency Model. No idea what the effect is.
7. Attack eReaders on tangential issues. Lack of Feature X, lack of color, lack of touch – All things that are irrelevant to the reading experience and yet people who have zero intention of ever buying an eReader will claim it’s the reason they aren’t buying an eReader.

At its core the eReader market is an exploding market. Some people want to attack it because they dislike reading, some want to attack it because they dislike the notion of a device dedicated to reading, and some want a piece. The latter includes companies that have no desire to contribute to reading or to help readers but would love a share of the huge profits in eReaders and eBooks.

These are companies trying to create a grand delusion -

We don’t care enough about reading to even make a device for reading.

Here’s our device that is focused on something else and you could read on it so why not get it instead of a device that is absolutely beautiful for reading.

Doesn’t that make sense – here’s your eReader that’s specialized for playing games.

A lot of companies are trying this. The ones like Apple are really smart and spinning it better. However, spin only lasts for a while.

iPad isn’t an eReader – You have to read on it to realize it

After a few months most iPad readers are realizing that it isn’t good for reading. Paul Biba from TeleRead doesn’t mince words -

It makes a lousy ereader. The machine is far too heavy to hold for any length of time. It is also very slippery which means that you have to read with it in a case, which, in turn, just adds to its bulk and weight.

Also, while I have no trouble reading for extended periods from my iPhone, the iPad has just too much glare for prolonged use. I get sick of reading black text on a white background to cut the glare.

More: its pretty much useless outside (I use my Kindle there);

People who don’t read either never encounter these problems or they don’t read enough for these things to be important. In some cases they feel it’s OK because the books have animations and it’s an Apple product so you can’t ever admit it sucks at anything – you’d lose your Hipster Guild Membership.

This Christmas Season will see another set of Attacks on eReaders.

The attacks on eReaders during Christmas Season 2010 will follow this blue-print -

1. Press will spend August and September trying to convince people that any device you can read on is an eReader and there’s not a big difference.  
2. It will spend the latter part of September and most of October bemoaning the lack of features in eReaders and the lack of progress. We’ll see lots of vicious attacks on eReaders – including attacks on the very good ones.
3. From now through November the Press will also build up Android devices and multi-purpose devices as ‘the next step in eReaders’.
4. In end October and November the Press will start promoting the ‘more than just read’ and ‘more value for money’ concepts and try to claim Android based Tablets are a better choice for reading books.
5. In end November and December the Press will go crazy. They’ll pick up whatever’s available (Dell Streak, iPad 2 if it’s out, one of the better Android Tablets) and start heavily pushing it as the ‘best eReader solution’.

This Christmas season is the last chance the Press and the Tech Elite have to slow down eReaders. If they can’t figure out something we’re going to see tens of millions of eReaders sold in 2011.

When that happens and eReaders begin to replace paper the ‘a device should do more than just read’ tech elitists will be left with nowhere to hide. That makes the next 5 months especially crucial for them and we can be sure they’re going to come up with the most absurd attacks on eReaders and readers. Ars Technica is starting it off and credit to them for sticking with their pig-headed policy of assuming they know what’s best for everyone else (this is the same blog that thought its readers shouldn’t be allowed to use ad-blockers).

Filed under: thoughts Tagged: | kindle haters, non-readers criticizing ereaders