
Amazon Kindle is a Hit - kimboslice
http://ryanspoon.com/blog/2008/07/10/amazon-kindle-is-a-hit-12-of-book-sales-on-amazon-doubled-since-may/
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raghus
_“On a title-by-title basis, of the 130,000 titles available on Kindle and in
physical form, Kindle sales now make up over 12% of sales for those titles…"._

So, it is 12% of those 130K titles, not 12% of _all_ book sales on AMZN. I am
not sure how many titles Amazon sells overall but it's probably much greater
than 130K which means that the Kindle's share is lower.

Just wanted to point out that the post's title might not be entirely accurate.

(Update: it looks like Amazon stocks several _million_ book titles)

~~~
aneesh
Agreed, the title is misleading. But you're also misleading by saying that
these are merely some 130K out of millions of titles.

Those are 130K of the highest-selling books by volume on Amazon - I wouldn't
be surprised if they accounted for 30-50% of sales, even though they're a much
smaller fraction of the millions of titles

So it's not 12% of Amazon sales, but still a significant fraction of that.

~~~
immad
Are they definitely the highest-selling books or just the ones that Amazon
could get licensed to in electronic form?

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rms
If I could buy the black and white screen used on the OLPC XO in bulk I could
make a better ebook reader (for geeks, wi-fi and USB will have to do for
connectivity, CDMA is way too much money and hassle though it is what gives
the kindle such broad appeal) and sell it for $199.

When is that screen technology going to move beyond the XO?

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blurry
The screen on Kindle is _nothing_ like a computer screen, XO or otherwise. To
make images, it arranges colored particles using an applied electric field. To
illustrate just one implication, it does not have any backlighting whatsoever,
which means (1) there is no eye strain and you can read in direct sunlight,
(2) it never becomes hot so you can read for hours, and (3) it holds images
indefinitely without drawing electricity so battery life is very long.

~~~
rms
The black and white XO screen doesn't have a backlight. When you turn the
backlight on the screen becomes lower resolution and color. Not to get into a
spitting match about which screen is more unique, but the XO screen is pretty
damn unique.

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simianstyle
Am I the only person who thinks that the subjective "WOW" is unnecessary from
the post title?

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dkasper
I was just talking about the kindle with one of my housemates. I don't have
one, but my boss does, and apparently loves it. E-Ink is definitely a cool
technology. I've heard some people say there are some things that should be
changed in "Kindle 2.0". Any word on if/when the next version's coming out?

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mynameishere
It costs 359 dollars, which is insane for something which has capabilities
somewhat short of the 386 laptop I bought many years ago for 40 dollars.
Yet...print is dead. I've come to this conclusion as a long-time book-reader
and semi-ludite. There's just no reason to haul around wood pulp at a storage
efficiency 1/1,000,000,000th of the state of the art.

So, I guess things are bound to change. But 359 dollars? Cripe.

~~~
mechanical_fish
It sounds expensive until you try to estimate the cost of my book collection.
Double cripe.

The number of O'Reilly books that can be bought for $359 is depressingly
small. If and when O'Reilly fully supports Kindle (and vice versa) Kindles
will _really_ start flying off the shelves:

[http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/06/select-oreilly-books-soon-
on-...](http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/06/select-oreilly-books-soon-on-kindle-
and-as-drm-free-digital-bundle.html)

UPDATE: Of course, some of the _book_ pricing is going to need a reality
adjustment. $10 _more_ than a used paper copy is too much. And the catalog
could use some proofreading too: did you know that Don Roberts wrote
"Refactoring"?

[http://www.amazon.com/Refactoring-Improving-Design-
Existing-...](http://www.amazon.com/Refactoring-Improving-Design-Existing-
Code/dp/B000OZ0N4Y/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2)

~~~
Tichy
Also, the ebooks are just as expensive as the paper books, which just doesn't
seem fair. Especially since I can sell my paper books, but not the ebooks (I
presume).

~~~
derefr
You could probably just sell the Kindle itself, with the books embedded, as
long as you close your credit account afterwards. ;)

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staunch
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's 12% of "sales" not 12% of revenue (or
even profit). Does Bezos have so much invested in making people believe Kindle
is a success that he's willing to basically lie?

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Tamerlin
Bezos isn't lying. Though it's true that the article's author is exaggerating
things a bit, the reality is that Kindle's doing fairly well. I personally
believe that the primary roadblocks it's facing are the lack of color (which I
believe is due to cost issues with the technology, since the e-paper stuff is
pretty new), and the price tag.

However, it also hasn't been on the market for very long, so I'd say that
although it hasn't so far been a "killer" product, it HAS been generating
enough revenue that it will probably justify a v2. (That's what I'm hoping
for, because I'll probably be in line for a v2 model... though if the price
tag came down to $200, I might get one now.)

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nickb
Amazons is still hiding the number of Kindles sold. Why do you think that is?
Kindles are probably not selling well at all.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
DRM makes it a no-go for me. I'd love to use an eBook reader but the current
lock-in strategy from the major vendors is a huge turn-off.

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Tichy
How is the competition? iRex? There must have been some new devices coming out
since the kindle launched?

Is the Amazon ebooks shop compatible with other ebook readers, or do they do
the iTunes thing?

~~~
marijn
The Sony prs-505 is very similar but without the full keyboard and ability to
get books without a pc. I got one earlier this year and I like it.

~~~
Tichy
Does it have a touch screen? I think the first Sony Readers didn't have one.

~~~
nickb
None of them do. It's eInk.

~~~
Tichy
I thought the kindle has one, and I am pretty sure the iRex has a touchscreen.

~~~
cstejerean
pretty sure kindle doesn't have a touch screen

~~~
Tichy
Yeah I couldn't find any references for a touchscreen via Google.

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joeter
I've been wondering if enterprises are going to start using kindles for
positions that deal with a lot of traveling paperwork.

------
Create
right to read.

[http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-
re...](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading)

<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html>

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kimboslice
I love the thing. I've played with it hands on and it's a remarkable gadget...
BUT I have two complaints:

1) I'd love a backlight that can be switched on to conserve battery

2) I would pay for ability to surf the net / access blogs without the Kindle-
subscription service

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dmv
Re #1, I presume you mean "switched off" to conserve battery. The thing is, a
backlight wouldn't really work with the eInk screen. eInk is an ink technology
designed to mimic ink on paper. Like paper, you read the screen by light
bouncing off it, not through it. Think of reading a backlit sheet of paper,
like a transparency on a projector -- more pleasant to read the reflection
than have it lit from behind.

I have a Motorola MOTOFONE F3, which also uses an eInk display. It has a light
source -- an LED between the display and outer plastic. Works ok, but direct
reflected light (like a flashlight) works better in low light conditions.

I think you can just use a normal booklight with the Kindle.

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LogicHoleFlaw
Booklights are so awkward. Some sort of integrated lighting solution so I can
read while curled up under the covers would be great.

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TweedHeads
I rather have the convenience of an iPhone and download books at 99cts from
the App Store.

Some will say "the eyes blah blah the ink blah blah" but I tell you, I surf
ten hours a day in my old monitor and have had no eye problems for the past 20
years.

