http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/ Engadget Comments for Citigroup analyst says 500,000 Kindles were sold in 2008 http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
and the whole idea wioth textbooks is that its a file, and drm never works, so immediately it will be available to all without the need to purchase it.


most people that have ebook readers dont purchase their books.,
they download them.

either legally from free sources or illegally from torrents.

and with programs like calibre that work with the sony ebook series and can convert easily and from a gui from many formats to the proprietary sony format, and the fact that sony (for once) has allowed their device to read non proprietary formats (and open source formats), people will be even more able to carry their books around.

my sony reader has the complete pdf versions of all my MS Press books on it (the books came with a cd that contained pdf versions), and i have probably 9000 other books that are in the MS LIT format which is easily converted to the LRF sony format or to the mobi format.

(psst, many textbooks are available on torrent sites too....)
]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
Personally I think a netbook with a swiveling monitor and touchscreen would be best for most textbooks, I'm anxiously awaiting the new EEE touchscreen netbook. Hopefully it's a bit better than the gigabyte one.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/ "The problem with textbooks on the kindle is that teachers generally assign page numbers to read, like page 100-150, and the kindle doesn't do page numbers."

Well, usually the teacher assigns a specific thing that is on pages 100-150. They don't just assign random pages. So you could search for the chapter or item.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 5:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/they download them.

either legally from free sources or illegally from torrents."


What makes you think that? I'd imagine most buy books legally... especially in the case of the Kindle where it has built-in wireless connectivity to Amazon's store front. I'm sure there are many that download book illegally, but "most"? I doubt that. ]]>Feb 3rd 2009 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
books aren't backlit either.

reading from a backlit LCD screen is horrible and causes serious eyestrain.

the other advantage of an ebook reader is that is uses NO POWER other than when the page is actually drawn the FIRST time.

turn to a page in the book and leave it there for weeks, it wont use any power to leave the display up.

think of an Etch-A-Sketch

once its drawn, its there. if you want to display a new page, then it redraws and only uses power to redraw.

the battery life on my sony reader is in the week long range for me reading for a few hours a day.

it's also small, lightweight, and can hold several thousand books, newspapers,magazines, etc on it.

]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
I wonder where the other 499,999 are...]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
Not one Kindle.

Who the hell is buying these things? I don't disbelieve the numbers, I am just genuinely surprised by them. If not the people I ride the train with every day, then who? If not here, then where?]]>Feb 3rd 2009 9:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 4th 2009 7:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/It seems very cool in the US, but since it is based around a mutation of a Cell phone network, Amazon would have to make special deals with UK and Aus telecom companies before it could be sold.

I know making it enabled for WiFi or 3G networks would be less fun, but it would at least make the Kindle usable overseas.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 5:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
They should hire salespeople to stand in the middle of stations and shopping centres doing demonstrations and taking orders. They'd make a killing.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 6:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
I never see anyone using a kindle even or a plane. Will you buy a netbook or kindle with the same money?? ]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
Which is pretty meaningless. Seeing or not seeing a product in the wild is not a good indicator of the products sales.

Take the iPhone. Besides my own, I have only seen one iPhone in the wild. I have seen a crapload of Blackberries and standard provider phones, but only one other iPhone, but I am pretty sure there were a lot more sold. 500,000 Kindles is not a large enough number in relation to the U.S. population that you would happen to see someone reading one at any given time.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
my father had a kindle (hated it and sent it back) and now has a sony reader.
he is homebound for health reasons and spends probably 5 hours a day reading.

he used to do it on a computer monitor and always had headaches and sore necks muscles.
now he reads his newspapers, several magazines, and probably half a book a day from his reader.

it's much more convenient to have 1 reader, than a room full of paperback books.

its also easier to manage and search for a book.
]]>Feb 3rd 2009 4:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
If you're really into the 3-decade old feel of a monochrome screen, you're all about the Kindle! My point is simply that I don't think it will catch on with the masses.

E-reading will more likely find its home as a niche application on a devices that's already color, with a touch screen and 16 GB of internal memory.

I'd also mention as an aside that I suspect that audio book company Audible.com is a better fit for the digital age vs. Amazon's Kindle approach.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
It will, but by that time that LCD in your iPhone will be as outdated as a vacuum tube, and your smartphone/netbook/e-reader will be a paper-thin scroll of e-ink or OLED.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 6:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
Moron.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 7:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 4:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/
And I ride a standing-room-only train to and from work every single day. I alone have probably seen 20,000 iPhones with my own eyes this year, and only ONE kindle, lol.]]>Feb 3rd 2009 5:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 6:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 9:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 3rd 2009 10:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/citigroup-analyst-says-500-000-kindles-were-sold-in-2008/Feb 4th 2009 3:45AM