Get a Kindle

I've been hearing about this e-newsreading and book nirvana ever since I was an entrepreneur servicing the newspaper industry over a decade ago.  The talk back in the mid-90s is how people were not going to buy newspapers but were just going to read them on a thin film of ePaper.   Like in that Harry Potter movie.   

Well that tomorrow is finally here.

Yep, it's true.  I've been playing with my Kindle for about a week now.   I am totally digging it.

For those of you who don't know (and apparently a LOT of people don't know about the Kindle outside of the techno blogosphere bubble), the Kindle is a new handheld electronic reading device with a more readable screen than your CRT or LCD screen, as it doesn't refresh, and looks more like paper.  In other words, you can read it for hours without eyestrain.

Unlike other eReaders, the Kindle wirelessly enables users to download electronic books, newspapers, magazines and, yes, blogs.    The unit costs $399; books run from $1.50 to about $10; newspapers, magazines are $10/mo about; and blogs are $1 per month about.  If you send yourself a document, it costs $.10 to have it translated to your Kindle via their service, as you get your own Kindle email account.  These content charges subsidize the wireless element so there is no monthly wireless fee. 

I think it's going to be a lot bigger than people realize.  Steve Jobs is totally missing the boat on this one saying that "40% of Americans don't read"; Americans are e-reading more now that ever before.   Between surfing the web, blogging, texting and emailing, Americans have cut their TV time down dramatically.  If you work in an office, you are mainly ereading; it's likely you are ereading right now.

Jobs is spreading FUD about Kindle is my feeling; he stragetically misled people about not releasing an iPod phone if you recall, as well as the video iPod and my guess an iBook is not too far off (hmmm... wonder who owns that URL?).  Jobs knows that being able to carry around in readable format thousands of electronic books, as well as wirelessly accessing newspapers, magazines and blogs, and being able to email yourself large documents is a killer app.   Jobs is scared that he missed the boat hanging out with the cool kids with AppleTV which has been a flop, only to be out totally geeked by Jeff Bezos.

The Kindle ergonomics are not quite right, but I'd say they got about 80% right, about what it takes to get it mostly right enough for early adopter.  You might recall that it took Apple a few iterations to perfect the iPod, and it fell down flat with the Newton, only to see Palm and RIM take that market by storm.   

Guy Kawasaki, the former Apple Evangelist, suggests a 10X is the improvement you need for a new product to really take off and replace the old regime, change the world.  Historically, the argument against eReaders is that books are sooo portable, so technologically simple, why wouldn't I carry 20 or 30 pounds of paper versus 2 pounds of electronics that can carry the library of Congress?  Come again?

There is no question that the Kindle is 10X better than lugging around 20 pounds of paper versus lugging 2 pounds of electronics.   You might ask: why would anyone lug 20 pounds of paper around, and you'd be right.   However, I can now eread the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the New York Times, anywhere-- and I don't have to choose just one.  I don't have to schlep to the book store to buy that book or audio book anymore.  And I don't have to squint at a computer screen reading blog readers.   I can look up stuff on Wikipedia right away or the Dictionary.  I travel and commute a great deal, do a tremendous amount of reading, of books, newspapers magazines, newsletters, and business plans.  As we get thousands of business plans a year, and there is so little time to get through them all this is a huge boon to me. BK (before Kindle!) I'd print them out stuff them in my bag and try to get to them.  Often I fell behind. In addition, I am finding I surf through newspapers faster, as well as get to blogs and newsletters that I haven't had the time in the past.   

Frankly, I think that there are a lot of back and knee injuries from carrying around so much weight; $399 and some monthly subscription fees (which are cheaper than the paper products!) are a lot better than back surgery or physical therapy or missed work.

Here's something else that I've noticed: pretty much everywhere I go in the subway or the train, if just pull out my Kindle, about 6-7 people are staring at me.   Over this last weekend, I mentioned the device at an extended 50 person family gathering and showed it to several people; by the end of the party, nearly everyone had come up to me to learn more. None of them had seen one, and pretty much everyone was going to get one.  With my extended family, that type of geewhiz reaction I see only with truly dramatic disruptive consumer electronics.

I think people are underestimating how much potential demand there might be.  My expectation is that Kindles and ereaders will be mainstream in 5-10 years, just as Blackberries are now.  It might not be Kindle itself that wins out, but it will be something similar.   And if you think Amazon is just going to stop at just selling eBooks, emagazines and enewspapers, you're wrong.  This is going to be a handheld shopping unit where you can order anything on Amazon anytime.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if Amazon gave these things away like the mobile cell phone carriers do cell phones now.

You heard it here first.  Get in line for Kindle, see what I am talkin' bout.

Comments

[Ken Berger]

Too bad it's so obnoxiously closed, a la the Apple/iPod model. And unlike iPod, they seem unlikely to pull off such a coup. Sony (the #1 king of closed) hasn't yet (w/ their Reader product).

[Steve Brotman]

Ken, that's a fair point. My point is more that ereaders as a class of products' time has come. I think this type of product will be successful in some iteration. I think that Amazon is going to extend into all ecommerce and not just stop at readers, just like they didn't stop at books. We'll see about Kindle but I think they are well positioned and Jeff will iterate quickly and has the capital, the online ecommerce traffic and brand to do it.

[yuppi]

Perhaps, this device will be of good avail to me, I am used to reading ebooks (there are many of them at http://file.sh ), thus a good device is just what I need.