Comments on: Kindle will be history within a year

By: The Kindle is dead, long live the Kindle | Productible

The Kindle is dead, long live the Kindle | Productible — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:10:55 +0000

[...] been complaining (whining) about the Kindle for some time now. My main argument was that with the impending emergence of [...]

By: wemmick

wemmick — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:41:26 +0000

Well, this article is over a year old now…so perhaps the prediction was slightly early, but I think it’s starting to become clear now that eReaders as a whole are already on their way out thanks to iPad and other forthcoming tablets.

You read for 5 hours at a stretch, eh? Okay, *most* people don’t read for more than 2 hours.

And my statements about MP3 and web browsing were true as of the time of writing the article. Oh, and who wants to web browse “text-based” web pages in black and white anyways? Yawn.

eReaders are a niche product and will continue to be forever. iPad, tablets, and netbooks, even though they are newer, already outsell them by a wide margin.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:32:12 +0000

I am a Kindle owner, and have been so since November. It was a gift from my exhusband, who had owned one of his own since pretty much the day it came out. I agree with many of the points other owners have stated here, especially with the screen. I am an avid reader, especially when my health issues confine me to bed for long periods of time. I can only handle my laptop screen for so long before I go insane. I have been known to read for lengths of time close to 5 hours or more, so your statement that people do not read longer than about 2 hours at a time is wrong. As to music and web, if you will look up the update version 2.5 that came out in May of this year, you will find that the Kindle 2 and DX now support music in MP3 format as well as basic web-meaning web pages that are mostly text based. So there go 2 more of your arguments. Perhaps before making such unsupported accusations in the future, you will actually purchase the item in question and try to use it:)

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:12:02 +0000

BTW…it’s going on a year now, and I don’t see that the Kindle has failed yet… I hope you don’t make predictions for a living (i.e. meteorologist or psychic)…

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:08:46 +0000

I side with the Kindle. I don’t own one personally, but my roommate has one, and I do have Kindle on my iPhone, there’s even a huge difference between the iPhone version and the standalone. While I do love the color version on my iPhone, it doesn’t company to the standalone at all. As people have pointed out, the fact that it doesn’t cause eye strain is a HUGE plus! I get that you can reverse colors to help alleviate this, but honestly, that DOESN’T get rid of the strain. The problem here is the backlighting, for the most part, which Kindle doesn’t incorporate for that very reason, and it’s NOT quite super easy to reverse the video on a computer/laptop/netbook display. Also, for those claiming they read The Wall Street Journal via the Kindle App on your iPhone…you’re full of it! The iPhone/Blackberry Kindle app DOES NOT support periodicals at all, and neither does the PC app…one of the major complaints. You must be readon WSJ via their own website on your phones…

By: s.jos

s.jos — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:51:05 +0000

Joel, one of the great things about the Kindle is its functionality. Yes, if there was a multi-purpose Kindle that had music and tv, and games built it, I’m sure that would do great on the market. However the truth of the matter is people who have purchased the Kindle, such as myself, are not looking for an all in one device. If I buy something to necessitate reading a book more comfortably, why would I want it to have the ability to go online and play music etc? I think you’re judging the Kindle against a generation of the ever popular Multi-Purpose Gadget. I’m sure you are wondering why they haven’t thrown a camera on the back of the kindle yet. As for the Screen, it has already been said why it is amazing. It wouldn’t really make sense to throw it on a netbook.

By: joel

joel — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:25:05 +0000

From what I’ve seen, most people who complain about reading on a PC complain because the bright white is hard on their eyes over time. This is pretty easy to fix by simply reversing the colors – using white text on a black background. Many programmers code like this because for exactly that reason – it’s easier on the eyes over long periods of time. This is a very easy thing to fix if someone wanted to create a low price competitor to the Kindle.

As for reading articles on a cell phone, I’ve found it to be quite adequate. Sure, I wouldn’t want to read a book on my phone, but news articles that take a couple minutes to read are no problem. Of course, some phones have bigger screens than others – the iPhone is pretty good for this – but phones will smaller screens may not accommodate it well.

By: Bibliophile

Bibliophile — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:18:19 +0000

Having read on notebooks and netbooks for years, I recently got to “test read” a kindle 2 that a friend got as a gift. It is perfect in ways that a netbook will never achieve. I’ve never, EVER, been comfortable reading vast amounts on a computer screen. Neither has any other book lover that I know. Not a problem with the Kindle. Over 3 days, I spent nearly 15 hours reading on that thing, and not only did my eyes never get tired, but I didn’t have to worry about screen angle, or getting into a comfortable position (I tend to read nearly upside down when reading for a long time–impossible to maintain comfortably with a laptop or netbook). The bottom line is that it does all of the things previous e-readers did, while at the same time overcoming most of their problems. When I finished using it, I had only two complaints: the small screen size and the negative flash when a new page appears. The DX fixes one of those problems, showing that Amazon is listening to their consumers.

It is true that for people such as yourself, who find that they can read the WSJ on their phone in the subway (I would rather hit myself in the face with a hammer than try and read an article of any length on a cell phone screen), this is a useless product. For people such as myself, who find this reading experience so much richer, there is simply no substitute. And we will likely keep it alive for longer than a year (I have already pre ordered my DX.)

By: joel

joel — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:46:56 +0000

The Kindle store is already on the iPhone, so if you think it isn’t coming to the PC soon, I’ll take that bet.

I can get the WSJ on my phone on the subway, which is much more convenient to carry than a Kindle. I can also have it “delivered” via RSS to my PC daily. Still a fail. ; )

You have a valid point about the Kindle “kicking off” the e-reader space. If people like it now, that’s fine, I’m just saying it won’t last long…

By: Larry Clapp

Larry Clapp — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:32:19 +0000

> Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging – Who reads for more than a couple hours at a time, anyway?

I’d tend to think it’d be very convenient to be able to read as long as you want, and then the next day as long as you want, and then the next day as long as you want, and maybe plug in overnight on weekends only.

If you don’t think this is a selling point, either you haven’t read enough ebooks, or you’re just different than most people that read ebooks.

> Big Selection, Low Prices: Over 275,000 books; New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are only $9.99, unless marked otherwise – This has nothing to do with the device and will surely be available on any PC very soon.

“Surely”, huh? Do hold your breath on that.

> Books In Under 60 Seconds: You get free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required – You can also download an ebook to your netbook in less than 60 seconds, no Kindle required. Fail.

Can you get the Wall Street Journal? Delivered every day? While you’re on the subway?

Really, though, you may be right, Kindle may be gone in a year or two or five or ten. So? In the meantime, it’s a neat product and making people happy and Amazon money.

Four years ago I got a laptop for circa $1000 that I could get today for less than $300. Should I have waited? I’ve gotten a lot of use out of that laptop since then.