Shawn Baden » Amazon Kindle

Kindle Commercial Takes iPad Head On

shawnbaden — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:48:38 +0000

Well-done commercial. It focuses on 2 of the Kindles strengths over the iPad: price and readability in sunlight.

Amazon Introduces New Kindle Models

shawnbaden — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:14:25 +0000

I love competition.

Amazon introduced new Kindle models to stay on par with Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

Here’s the breakdown:

$139: Amazon Kindle Wi-Fi
$149: Barnes & Noble Nook Wi-Fi
$189: Amazon Kindle Wi-Fi + 3G
$199: Barnes & Noble Nook Wi-Fi + 3G

Note that Amazon has introduced a *new* version of the pricier Kindle. It now has a black case and… did you catch it? It now has Wi-Fi in addition to 3G as opposed to originally only having 3G. I’m not convinced the black case is a step in the right direction but I’m open on that point.

So bottom line the 2 devices are now essentially the same feature-wise.

Unfortunately since the last time I posted about Kindle and Nook, my enthusiasm for Kindle has wained greatly due to “KindleGate” – see here and here. Essentially it boils down to this: Amazon allows publishers to set the number of times a book can be download after purchase. So the more Kindle devices you buy, the more likely you’re going to hit this. Oh wait – there’s all those Kindle apps for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPod/iPad, Android, etc. Apparently it’s pretty easy to hit with anyone reasonably tech savvy.

ATTENTION AMAZON: You’ve lost a Kindle customer. No more Kindle purchases for me. Here’s how it should work: I buy a book, it’s tied to my Amazon account, I can download it and read it on any Kindle device or reader forever.

Price Wars: Amazon Kindle versus Barnes & Noble NOOK

shawnbaden — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:57:41 +0000

Barnes & Noble drops the price of the NOOK from $259 to $199 and adds a Wi-Fi only version for $149 – link

Amazon responds by dropping the price of the Kindle to $189 – link

The obvious question is will Amazon release a Wi-Fi only version of the Kindle? I hope so only from a price perspective. Priced at $129, it would finally hit what I consider a mass market price ($99 would be perfect).

Apple started the day by releasing their first major update (1.1) to iBooks so it’s been an interesting and fun day for reading devices.

Mini Rant: If companies want to play the clever capitalization game with their product name, they should be consistent. Amazon: is it Kindle or kindle? Barnes & Noble: is it NOOK or nook? I couldn’t find an instances during my quick look but it wouldn’t surprise me it’s also referred to as Nook too. Apple is consistent with iPod, iPhone, and iPad.