The Kindle is in stock
Amazon.com: Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device: Kindle Store
Amazon’s “revolutionary” e-book reader is finally in stock in Amazon’s store but will the masses catch on? It’s not the first time that someone has tried to make a leap from the printed word to the digital print. Sony has their own reader which has been around for a while now. But Barnes and Noble and Borders are still around so I guess people still like carrying around books.
Could it be the price? At $400 plus the cost of the books, it seems pretty steep for the average book reader. But for the techie and frequent traveler then this may be the product for them.
Could it be the network limitation? The Kindle connects to Amazon.com’s page via EVDO, basically the current cellular phone network and browse wikipedia and blogs as well as buy and download the books that you want off the store and trasmitted directly into your Kindle. So it’s currently in North America only.
I don’t personally know anyone who owns one nor have I seen one in the wild.
I do think that this product is quite advanced and book readers will take a little getting used to idea that what used to be a 300 page bestselling novel in their hands is now just 10 oz. Would $400 justify people dropping their $5.99 books away for my carry-on luggage to be a little lighter?
Maybe when the service is more widely available outside the U.S. and the price drops to the magic $100. I’d probably get it. But for $400, I could get myself a PS3.
Procrastinating in the Heat 