Opinion: Next Up: the iRead?
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Amazon, that fearsome Internet peddler of all things — particularly all things media — has consistently led the pack in marketing and distributing products, whether it’s selling eBooks or digital movies through Amazon Unbox.
But eBooks never really took off, partly because there’s never been an appealing reader. Now, according to Larry Magid of the Mercury News, the online store has taken matters into its own hands:
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos wants it both ways: He wants to change the way we read without making us feel that we have to change the way we read. The manifestation of this lofty goal is the Kindle - the company’s first electronic book reader.
Wall Street seems to think Amazon’s new venture is a winner, judging by the way the company’s stock rose after the announcement. It’s not too surprising: The handheld Kindle has a number of advantages over previous attempts. It’s not backlit; the battery lasts for days; and it has a built-in receiver that allows you not only to download books but also surf the Web. And of course, choice and cost don’t hurt:
...Amazon has something none of the other players can match - the world’s largest online bookstore and a powerful position with the publishing community. Its library of 90,000 e-books includes almost all the bestsellers. And, unlike typical e-book pricing, Amazon is selling electronic books at a very reasonable price - $9.99 for most new books and as little as $3 for older titles. I was on the verge of spending $18 for ‘Boom,’ Tom Brokaw’s new book about the ‘60s but am instead reading an electronic version that I bought for $9.99.
And the two-ton gorilla lurking around this blogpost: If it ignited a real change for print media, how would the Kindle affect the newspaper industry?
Right now, newspaper readers can be pretty firmly placed into overwhelmingly online consumers, or dogged print readers. There’s something to be said for being able to take in a whole page, complete in its design, providing you information you wouldn’t necessarily know to look for. Then again, there’s also a whole lot going for the efficient, updateable and individually tailored digests you can get from the Web.
If used for newspapers, the Kindle could change that. When you downloaded the day’s paper, what would you see? A page from the print edition? The Web-based news feed? Or would it be some hybrid, an apparently print page featuring clickable ads and active links? Nothing so exciting yet, unfortunately. The current format gets lukewarm praise from Newsweek’s Steven Levy:
It’s also exciting to get a daily dose of The New York Times and other papers. But the interface for newspaper reading is disappointing—you have to painstakingly go through article lists, and often the stories are insufficiently described. Still, getting the Times in one burst on a daily basis, no matter where you are, is closer to getting a hard-copy delivery than picking out articles on the Web, and it costs $13.99 a month, compared with the $50-plus I pay for home delivery. Do the math.
Then again, not much is likely to happen with the price tag sitting at a pretty $399. Granted, Amazon’s first run sold out. But if they really want the Kindle to catch fire, they’ll market it less as a luxury item and more as a convenience. Intriguing as this new device is, novels will never rival music in sheer sex appeal and consumer attraction. The Kindle is no iPod. It can’t rely on the pop-culture-chic to get people to pay up. Though perhaps they can tap into the Prius effect and market it primarily as a paper-saver. Green is the new cool, after all.
Speaking of iPods, they’d better do it fast, before Steve Jobs works out the kinks and makes a real bestseller out of Amazon’s idea. As Magid points out, ‘It wouldn’t take too many Apple programmers to turn an iPhone and an iPod into an iReader.’