O Kindle is part of the family of products that change paradigms and the rules of the game. In this case, the editorial distribution and the book itself. This is what follows MP3; it is the “EyePod” of literacy.
It allows you to store hundreds of books, newspapers, RSS feeds (including all my Google Reader), audiobooks and listen to any book in English (with voice synthesis).
The technology of ePaper, allows us to read, sitting on a terrace, beach or pool, with direct sunlight on the screen, with perfect contrast (as opposed to the laptop screen)!
If we go out on vacation, the battery lasts about two weeks. If finished, the current page remains on the screen (ePaper only consumes power to “print” a new page).
If all of a sudden we feel like buying “that” book... is a click away. Or almost.
“Almost” because Kindle is actually perfect for those in the US. Not only is it possible to wake up in the morning and have the day’s newspaper (Kindle allows you to update content automatically via the Internet via the “ whiskeynet “... that only works in the US), from buying a book on Amazon anywhere, but also because Kindle DX is still only available on the American market (DX is not “extra large”! It has the minimum size to read a book and to force me to read newspapers in “landscape” and supports PDFs).
In June this year, before I went on vacation, I couldn't resist and bought a Kindle DX.
To do so I had to buy it on eBay and to buy books, I had to get an address in the US, buy it on Amazon “Gift Certificates” with my real account and offer it to myself in my American account (something I had already done on iTunes).
Not only am I totally surrendered (Kindle is always with me) but also for me represents a paradigm shift. On my analog side, I had already given up vinyl (despite keeping my vinyl collection and my Rega Planar 2... today I only listen MP3, last.fm And now I am. Spotted ). I'm missing the book. It won't be now, but it's easy to realize that the next generation will take my pleasure from the role. Just think of a color eBook, with more memory and voilá! So much for the bookshelf, the Comics collection...
And I believe that this is not an “early adopter”. During the holidays, the biggest difficulty I had with Kindle was to be able to use it without borrowing it from me (even the most averse to gadgets).
It is speculated that Kindle represents the salvation of the publishing market and newspapers. The truth is that with 70% margins, I doubt Amazon is really helping the industry. And the publishing market doesn't seem agile enough to understand the obvious ways to take advantage of Kindle or eBook.
Wouldn't it be logical that instead of selling a subscription to Amazon, you sell a 2 year loyalty that includes for 15 or 20 € monthly Kindle himself? Is the model not more than tested by mobile operators in the sale of mobile phones?