Kindle e-book: beginning to catch fire?
Amazon.com received a rave for its Kindle e-book this week. An industry analyst at Citigroup from 190,000 to 380,000 units.
If those estimates hold up, it would mean that sales of the Kindle, which can download and display some 150,000 books as well as other reading material (such as newspapers), would track well against the first-year sales of Apple鈥檚 iPod.
The analyst, Mark Mahaney, also predicted that the device, introduced last November, this year, largely because no other game-changing new gizmos are likely to be introduced this fall. The biggest competitor in December would likely be the new iPhone.
While Amazon hasn鈥檛 released sales figures, the website says a source who has seen the numbers reports . They currently sell for $359.
That鈥檚 a little high for an impulse buy, especially since seeing one before you pull out your plastic isn鈥檛 easy. The Kindle is only available online from Amazon, and the chances of knowing someone who has one already may not be that good.
An informal survey by a San Francisco-based columnist for MarketWatch found that 鈥渋n Silicon Valley 鈥� the capital of early-technology adopters and the bleeding-edge users of all things geek 鈥� .鈥� She adds:
One Silicon Valley software developer who asked not to be named said he viewed the Kindle as a "blip," adding, "It's on no one's radar."
Still, says Therese Poletti, a senior columnist, 鈥渢he Kindle is possibly the best electronic book reader that has been developed to date and many users are impressed with its speed in downloading books.鈥� On the downside, she notes, some owners have complained about its user interface and ergonomics, including its thick size and 鈥渢he fact that it is too easy to skip the pages forward and lose your place in a book.鈥�
An analyst from Ockman Research, writing at , an investment website, says : 鈥淸T]hey would be able to carry text books as well as additional reading materials housed in one handy device.鈥�
But just how many gadgets is anyone likely to buy and tote around 鈥� a smart phone, an iPod, a notebook computer, and a book reader? Might the Kindle take over any other duties and become even more valuable? The Ockman analyst sizes it up this way:
The Kindle has wireless capabilities but they are confined to searching and downloading Kindle content. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has aspirations to bring more multi-media content to the Kindle but the current version is severely lacking. What does the Kindle have that will make the holiday shopper say, 鈥淲ow, I need a one of those鈥�? This brings us to the final flaw of the Kindle, the price tag. Retailing for $360, the Kindle is anything but cheap, and although throughout the course of a contract the iPhone is more expensive, consumers will likely balk at the sticker shock.
The grade for Kindle after nine months looks to be an 鈥渋ncomplete鈥�: Good enough for it to stick around long enough for an updated (improved?) version to appear, but for now still far short of a geek sensation.
