Yes, that’s correct folks. The physical book destroyer is making a return this holiday season with part deuce. Actually, 2 new models are coming out, one is going to be smaller than the original and will be a bit more user friendly, the second model should is going to larger than the old kindle and is going to com in different colors…oh joy.
Why not take advantage of the Kindle’s portability and work out some sort of networking play to connect with other Kindle users locationaly or topically? People are going to be walking around the streets, sitting on subways, or relaxing in parks with the Kindle, and everyone will be able to connect to a database of books to download. But, why not allow the users to connect amongst themselves? Create Kindle communities for people who are reading the same book or creae a recommendations system for books, much like Amazon does on their homepage.
The point is there are a lot of avenues that Amazon can explore with the kindle and simply focusing on an online book database is just the beginning. The kindle has a lot of potential to expand into the “people” networking space and I hope that we eventually see it move in that direction.
What do you think of the Amazon Kindle? What potential do you see for it?
Thanks for reading
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com has spoken about the lack of community interaction on the Kindle explicitly. The Kindle has to walk a fine line between becoming a replacement for books and newspapers versus becoming a multimedia device similar to an Iphone. To summarize his points, reading a book is escapism. Readers enjoy solitude and privacy when reading the newspaper or a novel. Readers of novels want to get away from distractions. Bezos is trying to take this experience, digitze it and place it in an easy access medium. A “Web 2.0 Kindle” could remove this experience. Will the Kindle alert you of what your friends are reading when you turn it on? Will it alert you when they purchase a new book, or when another user finishes a novel? Will there be pop ups? Will you be able to send messeges VIA Kindle? At what point does the Kindle go too far and actually fail at its original mission, to provide the user with the same experience one gets when reading a paperback but with the ease of digital distrution? The Kindle has to make sure it doesn’t get over loaded or else it will just become another PDA or Iphone.