The obligatory Amazon Kindle post - no free rides here !

Yesterday Amazon launched the Kindle e-Reader, and as Dave Winer complained, the GeekPress clamped on in a big way (see Techmeme this time yesterday) without really knowing what they were talking about. (We were too busy being thrown out of Facebook yesterday to comment).

Anyway, Sez Dave:

Steve Levy writes an article that appears in Newsweek about new hardware from Amazon, and it's an instant coral reef, within an hour or two it's the top item on TechMeme and there's a whole ecosystem of thought about it, published by people who have no information other than what they read in Levy's article.

But rest assured, dear reader - having worked on e-Reader projects ourselves (see here), we can honestly say that we do know what we are talking about

So, lets talk a bit about Kindle then:

Kindle is available starting today for $399 at http://amazon.com/kindle.

OK...road warrior / pro-sumer market for now.

Downloads Content Wirelessly (via EVDO), No PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots

Interesting...thats a lot of onboard cost and weight, its a small computer rather than a pure reader - why not just use bluetooth to hook to a PC or Mobile?

No Monthly Wireless Bills or Commitments

Clearly...people already pay for mobile and broadband. Amazon says it has to pay, so thats a subsidy model (or more likely built into the book charges) - weakness if a reader comes out that can piggyback off PC / Mobile

Reads Like Paper

No, nothing reads quite like paper yet, though the next generation e-papers are getting good.

Books, Blogs, Magazines and Newspapers
On an e-Reader - well I never! Oh...you mean there's a price tag?

The same Amazon shopping experience customers are accustomed to is offered in the Kindle Store, including customer reviews, personalized recommendations, 1-Click purchasing, and everyday low prices. Additionally, Kindle customers can download and read the first chapter of most Kindle books for free.

Kindle customers can select from the most recognized U.S. newspapers, as well as popular magazines and journals, such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly, TIME and Fortune. The Kindle Store also includes top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland, including Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine and The Irish Times. Subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Monthly Kindle newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and Kindle magazines are $1.25 to $3.49 per month. All magazines and newspapers include a free two-week trial.

Ah...a closed loop end to end system like...oh...iTunes, but with stuff costing more. Who would have thought? And even blogs...but no longer free, we note, and an incredibly limited choice!

The Kindle Store has over 300 blogs on topics ranging from Internet and technology to culture, lifestyle, and humor, to politics and opinion. Examples include Slashdot, TechCrunch, BoingBoing, The Onion, The Huffington Post, and ESPN blogs. Blogs are updated and downloaded wirelessly throughout the day so Kindle customers can read blogs whenever and wherever they want. Wireless delivery of blogs costs as little as $0.99 each per month and also includes a free two-week trial.

Not a dicky bird about the DRM I note....what gives there, Amazon?
(Update - more on DRM here in boing boing. Not good news.)

Holds Hundreds of Books in 10.3 Ounces
On the heavy end of design envelopes (for its size)....clearly a lot of in-board gear

Built-In Dictionary and Wikipedia

Well well...and a thesauraus too, we'll bet!

Long Battery Life

More weight

Search (of the Kindle store for Stuff to Buy variety)

Surprise

Annotation and Bookmarks

A must have


Ergonomic Design
Not sure about this one...that screen looks a bit small to give a book-like experience

Adjustable Text Size
Must have

Personal Documents
At a price:

Customers can take their personal documents with them on their Kindle. Customers and their contacts can e-mail Word documents and pictures directly to their unique and customizable Kindle e-mail address for $0.10 each. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft(R) Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP files.

Comes Ready To Use

Must have.

Our take - this will limit its own market - device is too clunky (and small screen) for general use, and the economics are usurious - making me pay $0.10 every time I want to download my own stuff is unacceptable. $399 is quite a heft considering you have to keep on paying into a closed system to buy content ( Quiz - do closed systems usually sell stuff at (i) premium or (ii) discount).

In addition, this device disobeys the No. 1 Law of all consumer devices - The Free Ride - this device does not give me any benefits for my existing assets - my connectivity, geekware, material I have already - and quite simply it doesn't allow people to enjoy material from their friends' collections for free (unlike, say, a book, where I buy it and loan it to you for...free)

(Afterthought - Its something I'd have expected a mobile phone company to come up with...)

The delightfully curmudgeonly Nick Carr notes that:

The only thing that will keep books great is respect for the individual author, the individual reader, and the sanctity of the book as a closed container. When that respect goes, the book goes with it.

Its just that with a real book, the sanctity is pay once lend many. With this, its the gift that keeps on taking.

Postscript - not trying to be snarky, but whats with the tame research houses coverage of stuff these days? Facebook got a paean of praise from Forrester, this one from Jupiter, while the blogosphere is much more balanced....and free!

Post Postscript - and even the Blodget Blog only got the "pay for free newspapers" one today (thats Wednesday, two days later) - read da small print ladz