The Motley Fool—the lively and informative financial site, just a few miles from me in Alexandria, VA—says the iPhone won’t kill the Kindle.
At least that’s Eric Jhonsa’s belief, and he’s right. Many people will favor the Kindle’s larger screen, for example. As I’ve written before, e-books are like eyeglasses or hearing aids. Individual tastes and needs can vary.
But I’m not so sure about certain of Jhonsa’s other details. Granted, there isn’t a single modern bestseller among the top 20 paid apps for the iPhone, just as he notes. But the Kindle software on the iPhone can pick up the same bestsellers that the hardware Kindle can, and they don’t need to be separate apps. So why did he home on the app list?
Furthermore, as Jhonsa concedes in responding to readers’ comments, it isn’t as if everyone hates LCDs for extended reading. I don’t—I find the text to be more readable on my iPod Touch than on my not-so-contrasty Kindle. Nicholas Baker (right photo) is also a fan of LCDs for book reading. One way to reduce or eliminate eye irritation is simply to keep the brightness down
I’d also note that many more people are reading e-books on laptops and PCs than on dedicated e-readers. Yes, that could change somewhat as prices of dedicated readers decline. But then netbooks—small laptops—will benefit from Pixel Qi tech, which can combine the best characteristics of LCDs and E Ink.
That said, I certainly support Jhonsa’s main premise. The Kindle isn’t going away—it has too many fans who like it for reading.
Detail for latecomers: The word “Foolish,” in the world of the Motley Fool, actually means “wise.”
Jhonsa’s comments are, in fact, mostly irrelevant. The only thing he says that means anything is that reading on the iPhone is a very different experience from reading on the Kindle. The rest is subjective and, by my impression, mostly second-hand information. For instance, he’s obviously bought into the whole “eInk is GOD” mantra (yes, it’s become almost a religious attitude: “My God is the right God, and the rest of you… with all due respect… are lunatics”). And yes, he’s hardly explored any of the other aspects of the iPhone to understand what makes it work for readers.
Finally, Flurry’s comments that the iPhone would be a Kindle killer were… incredibly missing the point. Amazon, in the long run, will mix and match hardware enough to drive us all crazy. We’re already seeing that in their international Kindle activities, and their abandoning of CDMA for GSM. But in the end, it’s the books that Amazon is selling. The rest is filler. Worrying about the long-term future of the Kindle is like being worried about what will happen when the Hydra loses a head.
I don’t really understand this either/or argument. I have both an iPhone and Kindle DX, and use both, but for different purposes and reasons. I have read some books on the iPhone and appreciate its always-there characteristic, but like the larger Kindle screen for extensive work and text highlighting. Of course, being able to buy books from the eReader is compelling, but that works on Kindle for iPhone, too. A device with a brighter, color touchscreen and DX size would get my vote, with iPhone apps as well making it just about perfect. C’mon, Apple, what are you waiting for?