The Kindle goes global and the scores on the doors are…
According to book behemoth Amazon, ‘Kindle is the most wished for, most gifted and the No 1 best selling product across all the items sold on Amazon.com’. Now that Amazon’s international Kindle has started to move out of the headlines and into the hot little palms of users, we’re starting to see some feedback. Here’s our round-up of the highlights and the lowlights…
Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology expert tried the Kindle out over the weekend and his blog post is accompanied by a handy video guide. He gives a nod to the fact it’s ‘quite well made’ but is hardly running through the streets naked whooping with delight as he describes it as a ‘pleasant reading experience’. Instead he sees it more as a staging post, saying that others are going to come along and do it better. And we think he’s absolutely right.
The launch definitely feels like a rush job – with Amazon simply allowing us to buy a US-focused product from Amazon’s US site – and all the complications that come with that kind of purchase – it doesn’t exactly fill you with that warm cuddly feeling of putting the customer first does it?
Man alive! Wired didn’t hold back in it’s ‘The good, the bad and the downright ugly‘ blog, citing the Kindle’s US-centric design as one of the biggest flaws:
‘The hardware is embarassingly US-centric. In fact, that is putting it lightly. The ‘International’ Kindle will sport a US adapter and a US-layout keyboard.’
Wired also don’t like the additional cost of import tax, and the shortfalls of DRM.
For a delve into these nittier grittier issues we enjoyed this blog post from NextRead who deconstructs Amazon’s marketing speak with a few swift punches of his keyboard. One obvious highlight noted is the ability to download books rapidly and wirelessly from Amazon – though are users going to be content with this walled-garden approach?
A US blogger is even getting huffy on our behalf. In his latest post, Kit Eaton of US tech magazine FastCompany asks: Has Amazon Bungled Kindle’s International Launch? listing its limitations, extra costs and hidden obstructions that make it a very different user experience for those not buying and using it in the US.
And there are already plenty of contenders ready to take on the Amazon gorilla, with two new e-readers unveiled today, and 5 alternatives to the Kindle already on the market and doing well thank you very much Mr Bezos. Plus, news just in (always wanted to say that) details of Barnes & Noble’s Kindle-killing, dual screen eReader – the Nook – have been leaked, and it looks HOT.
But we’ll leave the final word to our BookRabbiters:
‘I’ve decided to stick with what I have at the moment – physical books and my Nintendo DS with the classic books cartridge. I quite like gadgets but I plan to wait until they market place settles down a bit and then make my move in perhaps a couple of years.’ Karen
‘At the moment I’m happy with my physical books but in future when they’ve got all the kinks of eReaders sorted out I may be interested in buying one though I have been tempted by the new Sony Ereader Touch Edition.’ Amy
‘As a gadget freak I desperately wanted to love either the Kindle or the Sony reader but after having road tested both quite extensively I have come to the conclusion that nothing beats a real book. I thought that would be the case. Also my taste in literature runs to the unusal and I wouldn’t not be able to get what I want on either format.’ Matthew
And a great eReader round-up from Dave H on this discussion post: Electronic reading gadgets anyone? which begins: ‘The current spurt of eReaders are looking very promising in terms of their readability, but there are many problems with them still…’
Here in South Africa we’ve been importing Kindle’s on demand, though what’s more popular is the sony e-reader. This may just because the wireless service hasn’t been rolled out in South Africa yet. This is possibly due to the touch screen on the sony making it a smaller size but keeping a similair screen size to the kindle.
The sony ereader also supports far more formats than Kindle and costs a good $100 less. The only disadvantages are it’s ability to download wirelessly and that it can store fewer books, but who really needs to carry 200 books around with them?
It’s interesting to get an insight into what’s happening internationally Rupert, it is certainly a hot topic globally at the moment. There’s an interesting article in the NY Times today, which claims that people with an e-reader buy more books…like more than 3 times as many books! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/technology/21books.html?_r=3
On this basis, the publishing industry would do well to get well and truly on the band wagon, surely?
Do you think that people with an e-reader buy 3 times more books because with an e-book you can’t swap with a friend, buy from a charity shop, visit a library and so on, the only e-option is to buy? I guess on first glance that should suit the publishing industry, but I’m not too sure. I do all of the above mentioned with my books as well as buying. I buy more now than I have ever bought from a much larger array of authors because I have been introduced to them by other means. If I had to buy everything I wanted to read then I would stick to authors I am fairly confident I am going to like and probably end up buying less and then by default reading less.
I as a book blogger and avid reader wanted to have an e-reader. Since I live in the States now I had quite a choice. I didn’t want to spend the money on a Kindle and have DRM issues, and the early Sony’s were not what I wanted. I went with the latest Sony, the Pocket Reader. It’s small and light weight, I can even rent e-books from my local library. I am very interested in the Nook. Like the Sony it is DRM free and you can read free e-books from the net and sync up with your library. I also love that you can lend your e-books to the other Nook users you know! Comparing the Nook to Sony is a no brainer with the extra batteries, speakers, note taking abilities, its an awesome buy.
That being said the best e-reader around is the least known, and it is the least known because of its price. The iLiad by iRex Technologies is amazing. It has everything you could possibly want and more.
Yes the Nook does seem to have some nice features, but I wonder if the killer book gadget is still waiting in the wings? There has been much talk of Apple releasing some form of tablet with e-book features in the first quarter of 2010 and, if their success in the MP3 market was to be replicated, then we’ll all have one in time for next years’ summer hols!
Well, the official launch of the Nook happened just over an hour ago across the water, so here’s the first look at it on video so you can judge for yourselves. But as you pointed out Pam with its impressive features – including colour, dual touchscreen and the ability for users to share ebooks – the early reviews are already saying it will rival Apple’s tablet. The Nook will be out in the States in November – can’t wait to see it turn up over here and give Amazon’s ‘International’ Kindle a good slap round the chops – nothing beats a bit of healthy competition!
Nice blog Sarah, a very good roundup here and thanks for the mention.
Pam, the Illiad has been impressive since its release many years ago, but the price… oh dear!
Simon, there’s a number of Tablet PC’s around (as you my already be aware) although to date they are generally running on Microsoft Windows Tablet Edition – which has had very little done to it to make it Tablet friendly, and a missed opportunity in my opinion.
The majority of current Tablets are a bit of a con, as they are more like a laptop. My first Tablet PC though, from HP, was a true Tablet – you could completely remove the keyboard and just use the screen with a touch-pen, which worked very nicely, especially for turning it between portrait and landscape. Hopefully, Apple can pull together an operating system truly worthy of a Tablet, because Microsoft certainly can’t.
The problem though with Tablets-as-eReaders is their size and bulk – they’re a bit to cumbersome to carry around in one hand. So, although they are much better than trying to read on a PC or a laptop screen, they’re not very suited to reading novels. On the other hand, they are much better for reading PDF’s of textbooks or newspapers, and that will be where they shine in the eBook market I believe.