Kindle to replace highlighters and post-its?
In November 2007, Amazon.com introduced an e-reader to allow easy access to a vast library of electronic books to be downloaded and read on the device – the Kindle, an iPod equivalent to books. According to Crunchgear, Amazon.com is planning to release two new Kindle models: a smaller form factor Kindle that will be available in different colors (very apple!) to be released just in time for the holidays this year, and a large screen version to be released sometime next year. TechCrunch assumes that the large screen Kindle is perfect to target the college/university textbook market, a $5.5 billion market annually in the U.S. alone. The battery life is much longer than most electronic devices, and carrying a large Kindle is still a lot better than carrying ten heavy textbooks.
At first glance the Kindle seems to be predestined to substitute textbooks. Not only because they are heavy and bulky but especially because they generally are extremely high priced. Moreover, there are new editions almost every semester that students are obliged to buy even if the ‘older’ one they already have is almost identical. Therefore, the Kindle could clearly simplify matters. Ebooks are cheaper (bestsellers definitely are) than their paper counterparts and available 24/7 – any time and any place. And with the implemented highlighting and note-taking features as well as an integrated ‘find’ function that enables the reader to search for specific words within a book, the Kindle appears to be perfect for students. However, colored diagrams, graphs, pictures and the like cannot be displayed by the Kindle and so far I have not found out how or whether it is possible to back up your work.
Furthermore, publishers are not likely to embrace the ‘Kindle’ idea, since Amazon.com might own the market. Also, it remains to be seen whether textbooks in their electronic form will be offered at lower prices, because shipping costs etc. are no longer necessary so the publishers or distributors (in this case Amazon.com) have to ‘collect’ that ‘lost’ money elsewhere. And if there is no difference in price it just would not pay to kindle.
In the end, the ‘old-fashioned’ book might turn out to be more useful: Books are sold while ebooks are licensed; old or used books can be resold whereas ebooks that are no longer needed can be regarded as electronic waste. That is because the license cannot be resold. It is possible to argue, of course, that an option to resell ebooks could be made available. That, however, is simply unnecessary. Who would buy a ‘used’ ebook? It would have to be sold at a lower price than a ‘new’ one, which, obviously, would be complete nonsense to do, because the ebook would still be new after one person has kindled it. Therefore, there is no reason to sell it any cheaper.
Nevertheless, it is a great idea that was predictable and fits today’s lifestyle. And despite all of the issues discussed above, I believe that the Kindle will be a success – it actually is already. Whether it will be a success with textbooks remains to be seen.
As for myself, I can imagine receiving my daily paper on a Kindle. I am not sure though, whether I would want to read my favorite novel on a screen. Let’s find out.
