DigiDiaries

Lessons from Bezos and why the Kindle 2 is cool

I just watched Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, chat on Charlie Rose about the new Kindle 2. It has been out in the market for less than 2 weeks but the early reports sound great. About 240,000 titles are available for download, including many of the NYT bestsellers. No Harry Potter yet though. I'm so curious about the electronic paper experience, which apparently doesn't cause eyestrain. It is also the greenest way to get a title in the hands of millions without the loss of trees. It is 3G enabled, allowing a book download in about 60 seconds. It sounds worth trying but I do hope the $359 price tag will drop in the near future. This new version boasts a battery life of about 2 weeks and quick page turning abilities but.. we are still some years away from color displays. Will be interesting to see whether reading books on mobile PC-like devices will prove more popular. Also, will Google's library digitization project challenge the Kindle's business model? One thing is for sure, Bezos is a hell of a business man and the Kindle has sold out before the Holiday season two years in a row--bad forecasting but great demand. One of his pieces of advice-- "focus on your customers, not your competitors" -- wise words for an economy where multi-billion dollar firms go poof! when you blink. Anyone catch Blockbuster losing 77% of its stock price today? Trading at a whopping .22 cents, better go rent something tonight.

Here is Jeff Bezo's full interview:

Posted at 06:32PM Mar 03, 2009 by Joyce Solano in Blogging  |  Comments[0]