Yet Another Expensive Device to Carry: Amazon’s Kindle

The blogosphere is excited about the launch of Amazon’s new ebook reader called Kindle. There are may pro’s and con’s to the device, but I think Rex Hammock has a pretty sober look at the idea.

From a user experience perspective, I don’t quite understand the idea of compartmentalizing our media activities. Why would I spend hundreds of dollars in order to carry around a device that only reads books. Then another couple hundred on a device that primarily just plays music. Then another couple hundred on a cell phone. Then another couple hundred on a decent portable internet/work device.

We seems to be in a middle period where we all know what is coming – truly integrated devices – but businesses are struggling to:

  • Develop them quickly enough.
  • Find a profitable and sustainable business model around them.

Either way, I am not waiting for the perfect single device, but I am also not going to be carrying around 5 devices and thousands of dollars worth of equipment everywhere I go!

On the other hand – good for Amazon for creating more excitement around books and reading!

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