E-book Sales Looking Good

I’ve become well attached to my Amazon Kindle and it looks like I’m not alone. Initially Amazon had problems getting displays from their supplier, resulting in some rather long delays between Kindle orders and deliveries. I waited about 6 weeks for mine to arrive after placing my order last January, which was a pretty typical wait back then. Delivery times have shorted significantly, it now looks like Amazon has a good supply of the displays, and the market will continue to grow for e-book readers like the Kindle.

According to an iSuppli study, e-book display shipments will increase at a 161% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2007-2012 period. iSuppli predicts sales will move from 150,000 units sold in 2007 to 18.3 million units in 2012. iSuppli also projects global e-book display revenue will grow from $3.5 million in 2007 to $291.2 million in 2012 indicating a CAGR revenue increase of 143%.

How’s the Kindle reader selling overall? The same iSuppli study predicts Amazon will sell 1 million units in 2008.

How is Kindle content selling? Here’s a quote from an article in the New York Times earlier this month:

According to a source at Amazon, "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."

The iSuppi study references key e-book markets that include education (textbooks, reading and reference material, electronic dictionaries and organizers), consumer markets (novels, magazines, guides and newspapers), professional segments (trade publications, manuals and product literature) and other areas (government documentation, military maps and religious books and material).

I see several advantages for the classroom including content search, the built in dictionary, the ability to highlight, bookmark, export pieces of content to text files and add the equivalent of margin notes. I also like the ability to move the equivalent of Word and PDF documents around electronically over Amazon Whispernet, which uses the Sprint EVDO wireless network.

ISuppli principal analyst for mobile displays Vinita Jakhanwal is quoted as follows:

It's possible that Amazon's Kindle could do for e-books what Apple's iPod did for MP3 players. Indeed, there are indications that Kindle sales in the first quarter of 2008 surpassed its total sales for the entire year of 2007.

I’m looking forward to hearing (and seeing) traditional academic publishers plans for electronic textbooks on devices like the Kindle and Sony Reader.

The Amazon Kindle First Impressions Podcast

Mike Q and I recorded "The Amazon Kindle First Impressions" last night. Below are the show note questions. You can listen directly by turning up your speakers and clicking here.

If you have iTunes installed you can get this one, listen to others, and subscribe to our podcasts by following this link. If you don't have iTunes and want to listen to other podcasts and read full sets of shownotes using your web browser, turn up your speakers and click here.

Intro and Show Questions:

Intro: Amazon launched the Kindle in the United States in November 2007. Demand for the Kindle has been high with long waiting lists. We finally got our hands on one and review the Kindle in this podcast.

Questions:

Can you give us some basic specs on the Kindle?

What about external storage, battery life and ports or connectors?

Can you give us a quick overview on the Kindle controls - How do you use it?

How do you navigate?

How does the ruler work?

What's Whispernet?

How do you get content on the Kindle?

Can you get content from other sources?

What file formats does the kindle support?

Are there other ways to read pdf's?

Can you view pictures?

What else can you do?

I'm always reading things and making notes to include in blogs or other documents - is there a way to do this?

Is content on the kindle search-able?

How does the dictionary work?

What are some of the experimental extras - does it allow web browsing??

I've heard about a question ask and answer feature - can you describe that?

Can you play music on it?

Any other observations?

The Kindle, Amazon and Good Customer Service

A buddy, John W. from New York, purchased a Kindle and received it on January 16. John sent along the following email to me on January 17 with his first impressions:

The Kindle came at lunch time yesterday. Usual detritus in the shipping carton - Gevalia coffee maker ad, etc. They even sent me a free demo Schick razor! LOL. Kindle packaged well. Comes in clamshell type white carton that obviously cost some money.

The unit itself is amazing. After charging it up and turning on the wireless, I got full signal and the Kindle auto populated my owner information and downloaded the titles I had pre-purchased. The leather cover gets a bad rap. It is black leather, with a grey suede interior and leather tabs to hold the Kindle in place. It locks a small tab in place on the back to hold it in. People on-line are complaining because it appears flimsy, but if one takes time to read the directions, it works quite well. An elastic strap is attached to hold the cover closed when not in use. One person in one of the forums even fashioned his own replacement from a modified Moleskin reporters notebook. Ahh, creative minds...............

As for the eInk. Wow. It is totally not what you expect and truly looks like paper. Jeff Bezos has mentioned that the Kindle is white because he wants people to forget they are using it while reading and he is right on. I read one short work of fiction last night and I immediately got used to it. The sticking point is the cover, you have to do some jockeying to get comfortable with it.

I used the NowNow service to ask a question. NowNow comes with every Kindle, you can send a question to an actual team of people and get a real answer. Mine came back in like 10 minutes. I asked if there are any keyboard shortcuts for Kindle, and I got 2 messages back with lists. :) Now, that is service!

The only drawback is the time I waited to get it. I ordered 12/5 and got 1/16. I hear that the eInk displays are in short supply, therefore limiting Amazon. Well, anyway, I guess that is a good thing.

I truly love this device. I will send you more thoughts as I play with it.....

Overall a pretty good first impression by John. Last night (February 19) he sent me another update:

I have been working 10-11 hr days. Let me tell you how much I love my Kindle. I have a second one waiting at home for me now. My first unit developed a thin line (width of a hair) on the e-ink display when I page forward, so Amazon sent me a new one to replace it. Now, that is customer service! You go on their help page and click on "Call me back ..... really!", enter your telephone number and they call right back! Amazing technology.

I've read 10-12 books on it so far - I am a fiction addict and I absolutely love it! I will write more as I have time....

Excellent first impressions and excellent customer service - I want one!

Thanks John!!

The Kindle and The Sony: A Couple of Electronic Book Readers

[Here's a recent piece I wrote for my monthly technology column in La Prensa, a Western Massachusetts Latino newspaper. To read previous La Prensa technology columns go here.]

Amazon recently released a product called the Kindle, a 10.3 ounce electronic reader with a 6 inch grey-scale screen. The Kindle allows users to connect wirelessly and shop the Amazon Kindle store electronically – a computer is not required. According to Amazon, more than 90,000 books are available including 100 of the 112 current New York Times Best Sellers with most selling for $9.99 each. Newspapers are also available including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post along with top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes. Monthly subscriptions to newspapers cost between $5.99 to $14.99 per month and magazines typically cost from $1.25 to $3.49 per month.

The Kindle uses a cell phone data network and works just about everywhere your cell phone works. There are no monthly wireless bills – wireless charges are included in the cost of the content being downloaded. Users can also email documents and pictures to a Kindle. A Kindle is not cheap at $399 for the device.

Sony also has a product called the Sony Reader. The Sony Reader is a one-half inch thick e-book reader that weighs around 8 ounces. It holds about 80 books worth of content and has a rechargeable battery that lasts approximately 7,500 page turns. It has 64MB of internal memory and an additional memory card slot. The screen is very pleasant on the eyes, using a technology called e Ink® from E Ink Corporation. E Ink uses micro-capsules instead of the glowing LCD cells on computer screens that appear as black or white depending on the charge associated with page content. The Kindle uses the same E Ink screen technology. According to Sony: "The result is a reading experience that’s similar to paper - high contrast, high resolution, viewable in direct sunlight and at a nearly 180-degree angle, and requiring no power to maintain the image."

The Sony Reader requires a computer for book purchases and transferring files (via USB cable) to the Reader. The Sony Reader also displays documents, blogs, newsfeeds, and JPEG file pictures (like the Kindle - just black and white) and plays unsecured MP3 and AAC audio files through an external audio jack. Books are primarily purchased by users using Sony’s ebooks website. The Sony Reader is currently selling for around $300 on Amazon.

Back in September I wrote here about the weight of my two daughters book bags and the Sony Reader. In the September post I calculate both of my daughters Book Bag to Weight Ratio (BBWR).

I see great potential for ebook products, especially in our classrooms. If you also have children (or grandchildren or know children) in school you likely have concerns about the weight of books they are carrying around every day in their bookbags. An electronic reader like the Amazon or Sony products could be a perfect solution. However, I don’t think we’ll see widespread use in our classrooms until the price drops and a color screen is included.

UPDATE (12/6/07, 12:30PM): A buddy, John W., wrote to me this morning. Go to eBay and do a search on Kindle - check out those prices!

Book Bags and the Sony Reader

I've been meaning to weigh my daughters book bags for a while now. I've got a 16 year old in 11th grade and a 12 year old in 7th grade and each lug a stuffed bag back and forth every day to school. Here's the weigh-in results:

11th grader

Book Bag Weight = 28 lbs
Her Weight = 105 lbs
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Book Bag to Weight Ratio (BBWR) = (28 lbs)/(105 lbs) = .267

7th Grader

Book Bag Weight = 24 lbs
Her Weight = 75 lbs
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Book Bag to Weight Ratio (BBWR) = (24 lbs)/(75 lbs) = .32

So my oldest is lugging a little over one-quarter of her weight around in her book bag and my youngest is lugging almost one-third of her weight!
In addition they are each commonly carrying one or two other books that won't fit in their bags, adding another 5-10 pounds along with a 5-6 pound violin..... imagine if they each played the tuba........

I'm not sure how you feel about this but to me it is unacceptable. We've tried talking each into roller bags but they are not very popular these days in the middle and high schools..... So - what can we do? Get our kids memberships to a local gym in the summer so they can build up their muscles for the school year? Perhaps chiropractor gift certificates for the holidays?

Sony has a better solution that I'm hoping catches on in the academic community. The Sony Reader is one-half inch thick e-book reader that weighs around 8 ounces. It holds about 80 books worth of content and has a rechargeable battery that lasts approximately 7,500 page turns. It has 64MB of internal memory and an additional memory card slot. The screen is very pleasant on the eyes, using a technology called e Ink® from E Ink Corporation. E Ink uses micro-capsules instead of the glowing LCD cells on computer screens that appear as black or white depending on the charge associated with page content. According to Sony:

"The result is a reading experience that’s similar to paper - high contrast, high resolution, viewable in direct sunlight and at a nearly 180-degree angle, and requiring no power to maintain the image."

It also displays Microsoft Word and PDF documents, blogs, newsfeeds, and JPEGs (just black and white) and plays unsecured MP3 and AAC audio files (like Mike Q and my podcasts !) through an external audio jack.

Here's an interesting video from NY1 News on the Sony Reader.


I've spent some time in the Sony Style Store playing with one and an impressed with the contrast - it has a nice text-on-paper feel that I don't get with other readers that use standard computer screens. It's small when compared to academic textbooks at 6.9” by 4.9” with a 6" screen and would probably not work well for textbooks with lots of illustrations - think biology or physics.

In it's current form factor, I think it would have limited use in the classroom but I'd love to give it a try. Sony appears to be directing marketing towards travelers at this time - I've seen a few ads in airports and airline magazines recently. Right now the cost is $279.99 and comes with 100 book's Classics titles.

In addition to Sony, there have been rumors Amazon has their own e-book reader in the works, the result of the purchase of mobipocket.com a couple of years ago.

I'd love to see these kinds of products directed towards the academic market so my kids could both lower their BBWR!

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Read Show Notes and listen to Mike Q and my latest Podcast titled Micro-blogging linked here.
Podcasts also free on iTunes.
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