Comments on: Amazon Turns Kindle Into a Platform

By: Luis

Luis — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:34:29 +0000

Well I am placing my Kindle on sale on ebay in 60 days. The iPhone Kindle app running on the iPad will replace the hardware. Amazon will be the best store on the ipad and thats where their MOJO is at!

By: rich

rich — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:30:42 +0000

Just think if amazon opened up their product up to high school or college books... I remember that college textbooks were the biggest ripoff since Ronald Reagon's $115B Star Wars defense shield

By: Brett Glass

Brett Glass — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:40:12 +0000

What's more, there's another interesting restriction: applications can't have VoIP functionality. (Not even for things like tech support.) This would also violate the proposed FCC rules.

What's interesting is that Amazon has been an advocate of those rules.

By: Brett Glass

Brett Glass — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:35:59 +0000

Read the terms in the Amazon announcement carefully. The application developer would be charged for the bandwidth that the user consumes! This means that the terms would violate the "network neutrality" rules that have been proposed by the FCC.

By: Luis

Luis — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:52:19 +0000

Well no one has seen this thing yet. I'm also really curious to see what kind of screen they use in order to make it readable.

By: Danno

Danno — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:33:23 +0000

Yes, the smell of fear is all over these moves by Amazon (from this Kit to the ebook royalty restructure to match Apple's, etc.).

I think the Kindle is seriously in trouble, as the Tablet will be a very nice ereader...and SOOO much more.

The fact that the Kindle is exclusively black and white, alone seals the Kindle's fate as a fine niche device, but nothing more.

Magazines, textbooks, art books, really anything with illustrations or a need for a color interface (like games other than pong and crosswords, for goodness sake) all make an iPhone-like tablet the only choice between the two.

Of course, then there's the rest of the story -- web browsing, video, etc. etc. etc. that reinforce the Kindle's apparent doom.

By: Al Billings

Al Billings — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:05:42 +0000

Unless it has e-ink and a store with access to all the books I want to read, I don't see how any Apple tablet will replace the kindle. Try reading a novel on a laptop screen and then try it on the Kindle. Night and day...

By: Satish

Satish — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:34:35 +0000

Amazon planning a KDK (Kindle Development Kit) and a eco-system around Kindle means better Kindles (probably a tablet) is in horizon.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:12:00 +0000

Luis,

You make good points. From the way I see it, Amazon isn't going to lose this war, even if it loses a battle or two. Just as it released a Kindle app for the iPhone, it can continue to do well even on Apple's platform(s).

I think this is what separates them from rest of the e-Reader makers including the likes of Barnes & Noble.

By: Chris K

Chris K — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:57:33 +0000

Is EA really looking forward to developing games for the Kindle?

This announcement seems like a bad April Fools joke.

What's next? Emerson announcing a development kit for their clock radios?

Actually if they can do a better pdf reader it will end up being a win for Kindle users.

By: RKoo

RKoo — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:51:30 +0000

I like Amazon as a company and am a frequent customer. But I am bothered by the lack of transparency on the number of units shipped. The company needs to share this info to convince us that it is truly being adopted. Otherwise, skepticism is warranted.

By: Luis

Luis — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:44:33 +0000

By no means Amazon is a slouch! What I meant to say, is that there is a huge difference between someone who does the whole widget for a living than someone who outsources part of the widget in order to sustain the main business.

In the future, the Amazon app on the iPhone or any other handset will be the way to go. Sustaining the hardware business is not a strength or the structure of Amazon. No matter how many people from Apple or Palm they hire. I'm sure these individuals know exactly what they're doing they just don't have a structure around them to support what I said "an onslaught" moving forward.

Look at Sony, they had to build an Amazon in order to sustain their hardware sales for the reader. Where do you think that is going to end up? It wouldn't surprise me if the Sony reader becomes a customer of Amazon in the future and that's where Amazon's mojo is!

Patience for Amazon will = loss of millions of dollars+ plus time wasted in an unwinnable hardware arms race.

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:49:28 +0000

I see this as a must do for Amazon to combat B&N and the Nook. Not just because of the Nook as a device, but it runs on Android. This year we're going to see a bunch of Android readers, and let's face it, Android already is a platform. Amazon must do this or die over the long term. I think Android will win over this special Kindle platform, though. Too restrictive.

By: Boris

Boris — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:52:36 +0000

Not sure why these products are constantly compared.

I love the Kindle for the zero strain on my eyes while reading (like normal book). I could never get used to reading from a laptop/smart-phone screen.

There is a lot to improve on the ebook user experience, just hope Amazon is giving developers enough tools.

By: gp

gp — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:30:43 +0000

whats the need of kindle and their platform when we will get full color ARM tablets in 200$ ?

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:09:07 +0000

John

Thanks for the information on Labs126. I agree on Amazon being a very patient company. I wouldn't take them lightly by any means.