Yet Another Expensive Device to Carry: Amazon’s Kindle
Nov 19th, 2007 by Dan Blank
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!