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jb1280

macrumors 6502a
Jan 13, 2009
869
255
I wonder if there is some sort of iPad halo with the Kindle. The best thing Amazon did was push out a really good iPad app so that with the catalog they have - they will sell books. The price cut certainly helps.
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
Well, when you drop the price from $259 to $189, you would expect a rise in sales. :)

Anyhow, the real key data point in the article that Kindle book sales have surpassed hard copy books.
 

R94N

macrumors 68020
May 30, 2010
2,095
1
UK
Great. Competition is good for consumers. It drives prices down and increases quality.
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
It drives prices down and increases quality.

You're half right. It doesn't necessarily increase quality. Case in point, look at consumer laptops. Price has dropped, but quality isn't getting better.
 

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,889
921
Location Location Location
I just bought a Kindle DX 2 (received it on Monday morning), and to be quite honest, it's absolutely incredible. The iPad is better for everything except reading and battery life: a far superior UI, superior web browser, colour screen, and capable of much more.

The smaller Kindle and the bigger DX 2 are very good at one thing --- reading -- but it's so much better than an iPad at that one thing, I was willing to sacrifice all the other benefits of an iPad for a Kindle DX. I hope this means the general population understands that there's a place in the market for eInk screens, even if they're not capable of many things. :)

With regards to the Kindle:

- The brighter it is in your environment, the easier it is to read the screen. I read in lit rooms and outdoors more often than I read in the dark, so more often than not, the Kindle DX is more convenient.
- Screen reflections aren't a problem.
- Fingerprints aren't a problem.
- Battery only decreases with page turns, so at my pace, mine probably has a battery life of 1 month.
- The screen really does look like paper. Really.

You only begin to appreciate the eInk screen when you've used a Kindle/Nook/Sony eReader for a few hours.

I use mine to store and read scientific papers and manuals (around 50 PDFs so far) and some MS Word documents. The iPad's page-turning graphics are neat, but if you want to buy an eReader, I'd rather have a Kindle+iPhone than an iPad+iPhone. ;)

Besides, for on-the-go internet, the iPhone still beats the iPad in terms of convenience.
 

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,379
4,503
Sunny, Southern California
Amazon was smart to lower the price of the kindle!! I am glad it does do well. Not for competition etc, but mainly for them to keep pushing out books that we can all enjoy without having to get a kindle!
 

milbournosphere

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2009
857
1
San Diego, CA
This is due to the price drop, IMO. Ebooks and their readers will really take off when Amazon and the like adopt the razor business model. Sell the reader really cheap (even at a loss), then make tons of money off of the ebooks.
 

Jaro65

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2009
3,830
943
Seattle, WA
I wonder if there is some sort of iPad halo with the Kindle. The best thing Amazon did was push out a really good iPad app so that with the catalog they have - they will sell books. The price cut certainly helps.

You're right. I sold my Kindle DX and Kindle 2, but that still hasn't stopped me from purchasing a number of books using iPad's Kindle app. The app was a smart move on Amazon's behalf.
 
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