Daily Archives: November 29, 2007

Kindling of a sort.

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You don’t have to be a Star Trek fan to believe that one day the majority of books will be distributed digitally and read on non-paper devices.   Amazon believes this and spent a good deal of money developing the Kindle in an effort to get out in front of this market. The kindle allows owners to download books wirelessly to the device for $9-12 dollars each then read them one page at a time with a battery powered flat panel tablet. The product costs about $400.
 
It sounds like a good first start, but has been panned by some pretty smart people. Robert Scoble did a vlog screed on the design here http://www.kyte.tv/ch/6118-scobleizer-sponsored-by-seagate/77475-dear-jeff-bez#uri=channels/6118/77475 .
  
The Journal’s Walter Mossberg was nicer but echoed Robert’s points about button position and clunky usability. I have yet to touch one and being a tree-hugger wannabe applaud the effort, but must agree that Amazon may have been long on vision but short on execution. They should have done a lot more usability testing on the Kindle before finalizing design and rushing it to market.  (Hear that Microsoft Zune marketers?)  People read books everywhere. With feet up, down, tucked. Standing in subways.  Slouched in beach chairs. Not just in Seattle test kitchens.