image Why can’t the Amazon Kindle store be like the hamburger chains? You drop by and there’s a big sign, or virtual equivalent, blinking out the number of units sold.

240,000 this case, says TechCrunch’s latest on the K machine—which would jibe with some Wall Streeters’ optimism for the long term. Just wait until Amazon cranks up for the textbook market.

Meanwhile you can get the Chicago Tribune on the Kindle (via MobileRead) and also read some Kindle-love at the Trib.

Let’s hope that the news business will understand the risks here. Amazon should be just one delivery channel. Normally that wouldn’t be a concern, but look how Amazon is trying to take over the print on demand.

(Thanks to Sam Hendrix for the TechCrunch tip.)

5 COMMENTS

  1. Mike, stay tuned. Let’s see if Amazon will drop the price and indeed make a big push in the textbook market. I think there’ll be place for both the Kindle and the iPhone—although I agree with you that the real action will be on mobile phones. People on the go want multiuse gizmos. Thanks. David

  2. We’ve already got 30,000 people reading ereader books on iphone/ipod touch, just one month after launch.

    About 10% of our kindle customers have also switched to iphone/ipod touch uploads for all or part of their purchases. That began of course in mid july.

    I have received dozens of emails from people saying they were going to buy a kindle but once they saw ereader on iphone they decided against it (in one case they sold their already-bought kindle the day after reading their first book on iphone/itouch). You can even see several reviews on itunes of the ereader for iphone product where people say they decided not to buy kindles because iphone ereader worked well for them.

    So this “leak” occurred shortly after the iphone app store began, anecdotally at least, to dry up their supply of potential customers. Hmmm. I don’t know what the real kindle figures are but as they say in politics, the timing seems suspicious.

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