<i>“On a title-by-title basis, of the 130,000 titles available on Kindle and in physical form, Kindle sales now make up over 12% of sales for those titles…". </i><p>So, it is 12% of those 130K titles, not 12% of <i>all</i> book sales on AMZN. I am not sure how many titles Amazon sells overall but it's probably much greater than 130K which means that the Kindle's share is lower.<p>Just wanted to point out that the post's title might not be entirely accurate.<p>(Update: it looks like Amazon stocks several <i>million</i> book titles)
If I could buy the black and white screen used on the OLPC XO in bulk I could make a better ebook reader (for geeks, wi-fi and USB will have to do for connectivity, CDMA is way too much money and hassle though it is what gives the kindle such broad appeal) and sell it for $199.<p>When is that screen technology going to move beyond the XO?
I was just talking about the kindle with one of my housemates. I don't have one, but my boss does, and apparently loves it. E-Ink is definitely a cool technology. I've heard some people say there are some things that should be changed in "Kindle 2.0". Any word on if/when the next version's coming out?
It costs 359 dollars, which is insane for something which has capabilities somewhat short of the 386 laptop I bought many years ago for 40 dollars. Yet...print is dead. I've come to this conclusion as a long-time book-reader and semi-ludite. There's just no reason to haul around wood pulp at a storage efficiency 1/1,000,000,000th of the state of the art.<p>So, I guess things are bound to change. But 359 dollars? Cripe.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's 12% of "sales" not 12% of revenue (or even profit). Does Bezos have so much invested in making people believe Kindle is a success that he's willing to basically lie?
How is the competition? iRex? There must have been some new devices coming out since the kindle launched?<p>Is the Amazon ebooks shop compatible with other ebook readers, or do they do the iTunes thing?
right to read.<p><a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading" rel="nofollow">http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-re...</a><p><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html</a>
I love the thing. I've played with it hands on and it's a remarkable gadget... BUT I have two complaints:<p>1) I'd love a backlight that can be switched on to conserve battery<p>2) I would pay for ability to surf the net / access blogs without the Kindle-subscription service
I rather have the convenience of an iPhone and download books at 99cts from the App Store.<p>Some will say "the eyes blah blah the ink blah blah" but I tell you, I surf ten hours a day in my old monitor and have had no eye problems for the past 20 years.