Amazon launched its new eBook reader, Kindle, this week to great hype. It even made the cover of Newsweek, with the headline "Books Aren't Dead" (though personally I prefer the Jaws image from this week's Economist ).
The Kindle appears to have a nice 6" display, using e-Ink technology at 800x600 resolution. There's little doubt that it's a vast improvement over reading on my Blackberry. That said, I don't see this as being a mainstream device. Not unless the business model changes.
The Kindle is priced at $399, which places it in iPhone territory for pricing. Bestselling hardcover books can be downloaded from Amazon for $9.95 each. The Kindle is also designed to receive newspaper subscriptions (NY Times for $13.99 per month or the Journal for $9.99) or you can subscribe to a predefined universe of blogs for $1.99 per month.
If this were 2005, this would be a compelling model. But today, I don't want to pay for blogs and I certainly don't want to be limited to their predefined universe of blogs. I want my reader to be able to access any RSS feed without an additional cost (which I already do using Viigo for my Blackberry). I'd like my newspaper to come free of charge (but I'm willing to accept advertising, just as I do on the Times website). I'd also like to be able to access my Facebook page or at least read through my Facebook news feed and mini feeds.
I realize that I am asking for a lot. But for me to buy and carry around yet another electronic device, it needs to be more than just a better screen with Apple Newton technology underneath.
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