Comments on: Amazon has sold 240,000 Kindles…Who’s buying them?

By: JC

JC — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:42:35 +0000

My parents asked if I wanted a Kindle for Christmas. I told them ABSOLUTELY NOT. The books are $9.99. For a text file!??! I would go broke trying to purchase all the books I already have, plus new ones, at that outrageous price.

When Amazon comes back down to Earth and changes their pricing considerably, I (and many, many others) will happily jump onboard.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:48:02 +0000

Amazon dropped the price on the kindle in May from $400 to $360 in order to boost sales….

That’s not entirely accurate, Amazon had difficulties with its supply chain early on, once this was sorted the savings were passes on to the consumer, Bezos himself said it.

Secondly, You can read feeds for free on the Kindle.

Now Kindle isnt going to appeal to everyone — books don’t even appeal to everyone!! — however, for avid book readers the Kindle is a no brainer. If you buy more than 30 books a year then the Kindle will pay for itself. Then after that you are saving money.

Eric Shawn is right, the Kindle is the iPod for books, and this (unsurprising to me) news simply reinforces that. I love mine and it was the best thing I have bought in a long time.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:56:36 +0000

Your blog is broken, no one can post anything longer than this sentence. Hope you like listening to yourself blab.

By: Eric Shawn

Eric Shawn — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:54:03 +0000

I have a Kindle AND I have an iPhone. You cannot read books on an iPhone. Indeed, the moment you access the iPhone, the goal is to get whatever you’re doing done as fast as possible in order to put it back in StandBy to save the battery.

While the Kindle has flaws, what it does is transmit the books, (much cheaper than the paper versions) instantly to the device, at no charge for the wireless service. That’s major. Here’s why: you don’t have to pay tax or shipping for the book, nor do you wait for it for days or weeks. You have it instantly.

If you’re an avid reader like me, the Kindle will also pay for itself by the time you’ve bought your 30th book… that’s about a year for the typical heavy reader. Bestsellers for ten bucks… instantly? Hell yeah! Loving it.

The only problem is the digital Ink screen is kinda gray, not white like the screen you’re reading. A drawback, but not a deal breaker.

Despite its flaws, the Kindle really IS the iPod for Books. Its installed base will be just as large, and this really does change everything, just as Amazon hoped.