Blog Home For Steve Suehring

I'd love to get one of Amazon.com's Kindle readers.  Problem is:  My price point for a Kindle is, well, free.  That's not entirely accurate.  I'd likely pay somewhere in below $100 for one, but a Free Kindle would be best.

The primary factors that hold me back from a Kindle purchase are primarily:

1. Price.
2. Fear of Kindle 3.0, or 4.0, or N.0.
3. Lock-in.
4. Fragility.

1.  Price: I can't seem to get past the price.  As of this moment the Kindle is $259 but that seems to be way too much for someone who has a fair-sized library already.

Solution: What if Amazon threw in $200 worth of books or credit to use with the Kindle?  That wouldn't nearly get my library converted to the Kindle but it would get some essentials on there, and as a bonus, it would effectively lower the price that I'm paying - or think I'm paying.

2.  Fear of What's Next: I'm also afraid of what's next for Kindle, what the next generation Kindle might bring that will make me want one.  They're already adding native PDF support through an update, but what about the next update that requires new hardware.  I can't justify spending $259 on a single-purpose device that may be outdated in a month.  (Yes, this again goes back to the price point problem).

Solution: What if Amazon included or sold upgrade insurance, where buyers could get the latest and greatest version of the product for 1 or 2 years after purchase?  As an aside, having a published and easily accessible hardware roadmap would help too.  If I know that Kindle 2.0 is going to be around for 5 years I might feel more comfortable about buying it, even if the price is $259.

3.  Lock-in: This is less of a concern for me, but it's a concern nonetheless. What happens in the unlikely event that Amazon stops supporting the Kindle? Does the hardware become obsolete, and if so, in what timeframe?  What will I be able to do with a Kindle that is no longer supported, say in 10 years?  The books that I purchased 15 years ago are still readable, albeit dusty, and waiting for me to take them from the shelf.

Solution: Amazon should publish something on this.  Everything seems to be centered around how great it is now, today, when it's shiny and new.  But what about 2012?

4.  Fragility: Am I buying a brick, and a lightweight one at that?  I'd like the device to work for years and years, much like the books on my bookshelf.  Will it work in 5 years?  The words are still the words in books from 15 years ago and I have confidence that in another 15 years, those books will still work.  What if I stop using the Kindle for a couple years?  Will it still work like a book?

Solution: I have no great solutions for this problem.  Other than Kindle damage insurance, I can't think of how this can be solved other than by lowering the price point of the Kindle.  If the device is $39 and I can get all of my books back from the server, then I don't care as much about its fragility; other than to know that I can still buy one in 15 years to get my books again.

At the end of the day I'd love to get a Kindle but until the price point comes down significantly, I can't justify the cost.  Obviously based on recent sales figures that show the Kindle selling very well, I'm the only person who has these concerns.