"First of all, with regard to the iPad, it's a totally different product. I mean, the product is a general-purpose tablet. We love that product because people use their iPads to buy a lot of products on Amazon. It's a tailwind for our e-commerce business. But for book reading it's substantially heavier than a Kindle; the battery life is 10 hours versus 4 weeks on the new Kindle, and you can't read it outside in the sun. The Kindle is absolutely purpose-built for reading and it's a product that people consider a tool for reading. It's not something that's more of a gadget. People really love their Kindle and they use it for reading and that's what they do with it and it's a practically designed tool for folks who want to read.
With regard to what'll happen [in the future] I'll say it is an opportunity for multiple companies to have competing products and there will be more than one winner in this market segment. Our focus is just on building the best products--and not just the product but the whole experience.
The American Association of Publishers has said that e-books have grown at about 200 percent year over year. Our sales are growing faster than that, so you can back into what that means in terms of segment share."
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT CNET.COM
2 comments:
Sorry pal, having used both an iPad and Kindle, I can say that the iPad beats the Kindle hands-down. The iPad battery lasts for days, not 10 hours (not sure what this fellow's doing with his) and oh ... it's in color! The world isn't black and white, Amazon.
He says the Kindle is for people who read. Yep, but people read more than just non-illustrated novels. I want one device I can read books on, comics, graphic novels, kids' books, see full-color book covers (that I've paid for!), magazines, newspapers, video mags, etc. That device is the iPad. And I'm betting soon that Apple will offer a slightly smaller version. Yes, the iPad is heavier than the Kindle, but I haven't popped a sweat hefting it yet....
As the man says, they're different products. But for my money and my reading appetite, the Kindle just doesn't offer what I want. The iPad does.
Of course Matt the iPad is not just a dedicated reader but a versatile instrument. For reading I feel the Kindle's eInk display is much better on the eyes and the price drop can only distance itself from the iPad. Mind you when I can afford one I'd like the iPad.
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