New Kindle e-book reader could match iPod sales
Filed under: Audio & Video Gadgets, Gadgets
The kindle e-book reader which is aimed at students from Amazon, it going to unveil a larger screen model, as well as an upgrade on the base model, which we could see in September, the source said that the new model will have a lot better screen and be much thinner, as well as an improved interface which before a lot of users found annoying, one insider said that the jump in quality of the new version is similar to that of the leap between the first iPod mini and the new latest version.
Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon has talked very highly of the Kindle and it seems soon we will be able to see if the Kindle does live up to all the hype, the original device which went on sale just over a year ago is said to have sold 280,000 units, this was just a ballpark figure releases from Techcrunch report. Any new venture which has put in $100 million or so in revenue a year is not to be ignored, figures based on the Kindle selling for $399 although its dropped to $359 not so long ago.
We have never seen a Kindle in fact heard of anyone owning one, although a report from Citicorp analyst Mark Mahaney suggests that the Kindle could match the first year sales of the iPod. The one amazing thing with the Kindle is that ability to download any book and some newspapers and subscription within seconds wirelessly when for Amazon, it’s also said that Amazon will lower the price to $299 or in some reports as low as $249.
Source: businessweek
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It’s really amazing to think that this device could sell as well as iPods. I don’t picture a lot of teenagers carrying one of these around after school (nerd alert). If it could replace a whole backpack full of textbooks, that would be terrific for students. I think as a reading device goes, it would be practical. I don’t like the fact that the display isn’t in color, but that wouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
I was hoping Apple was going to take this to the next level with an iTablet, but so far no iTablet is to be seen on the horizon. People that I have talked to said that the iPhone wasn’t quite up to being an e-reader for various reasons. I think the iPhone is comfortable for reading for short periods of time, but I never tried reading for hours with one. Maybe Amazon got lucky with the Kindle this time around. Good for them.
You can’t download “any book” just the ones Amazon has negotiated sales with the publisher. There are very few text books available, and the digital editions are nearly as exorbitantly priced as the paper versions, without the ability to resell them. As a student, I pay my own fees and books, and I do not find the Kindle with the content priced as it is now, to be a value proposition. The only thing that would make me consider buying it is if they made it so PDF’s of content protected journal articles could be viewed, including formulas. Otherwise, it is a laptop for me.
I’m in agreement with Odo.
Apple with an iTablet, which will support color multimedia and traditional applications would open up the education market and would absolutely kill dedicated e-book-readers, which frankly have an advantage only in power consumption.
We already can extrapolate the current itouch/iphone technology into this device, which clearly demonstrates the limits of a Kindle future.
“Pigs could fly” would also make a great headline.
Actually the iPod sells at least ten million per quarter (53 million over the last year), while the Kindle has shipped less than a quarter million in a year. And it appears that Amazon has actually sold far fewer devices than that:
“book publisher at BookExpo America estimated (anonymously, to the New York Times) that Amazon has sold only 10,000 devices – another reckoned that only 50,000 e-books of any kind are in circulation.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/kindle_no_firestarter/
The iPod comparison was to first-year iPod sales which were pretty dismal, about 300k or so. That doesn’t take into consideration that the iPod was Mac-only in its first year, or that the iTunes Music Store was not yet available. In other words, the comparison is fraught with holes.
The idea of a Kindle for school is pretty far-fetched. I mean they can make one, but can you imagine that fragile plastic device in a kid’s backpack? It’ll get eaten alive. And college kids need to highlight their texts. What happens if their Kindle dies while studying for Finals? And, many classes will need color images, like art history, biological sciences, etc., etc.
I’m glad to see this article… I’m a big fan of eBooks. However, I use the Cybook eBooks reader, which I think should be more convenient for college students as it’s lighter, doesn’t limit you to Amazon’s store, etc. The interface is also extremely simple – more iPodian than the Kindle.
good products but not good price
I think less people have seen Kindles in the real world than have seen Zunes.
Amazon wanted to create the iPod of book readers, but created the Zune of book readers.
Really – is there any evidence of these things selling except Amazon’s claims? It’s a completely phantom product! At least I’ve actually *seen* a Sony book reader in Borders …