Kindle Accessories In Demand As Kindle Sales Take Off

Posted: August 5th, 2009 | Author: writingteam11 | Filed under: Wizardry | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

Although Amazon are being unashamedly coy with regard to sales figures, there can be little doubt that they are happy with the performance of their Kindle ebook reader family to date. The Kindle first went on sale in November 2007 and demand was so great that it sold out in five and a half hours. It remained out of stock until April 2008.

 

The Kindle 2, widely viewed as an improvement to an already excellent product, was released in February 2009 and was another big hit with the buying public. In May of 2009 Amazon confirmed that its new, bigeer Kindle DX model would be released and began accepting pre-orders.

 

All in all, by the middle of 2009 the Kindle was the must have gadget and was often referred to as the “iPod of books”. In parallel with hardware development, Amazon continued to make greater numbers of book titles available in its Kindle store. By early June of 2009 there were over 300,000 Kindle titles available and the collection was growing by, on average, 500 titles per day.

 

Great business for Amazon and a huge encouragement for repeat custom. Sure, you can get books for your kindle elsewhere – but these might require translation, and why bother when the Kindle store has so many titles that you can download using 3G wireless connectivity in less than sixty seconds?

 

It’s also good news for all those third party manufacturers of Kindle accessories – a rapidly growing market. Originally Amazon shipped a cover with the Kindle, but this practice stopped when the Kindle 2 was released. Customers who have just spent $359 for their Kindle 2 or $489 for their DX probably have a reasonable discretionary spend budget and won’t think anything about spending another $20 – $40 on a cover to protect and customise their new toy. As with any portable device, it’s likely to have a few bumps and scrapes in normal use – so it makes sense to protect it as best you can?

 

Aside from the practical considerations, it seems that some Kindle owners are quite prepared to pay over $100 for a nice leather cover – which will not only provide some degree of protection but will also make their high tech Kindle look more like a traditional book. As the Kindle is a fairly high ticket item most owners, will have some disposable income so it probably isn’t a huge surprise that they’re ready to pay for a few extras to customise it.

 

Kindle owners can also choose from a wide variety of other accessories – clip on lights, metal reading stands and additional power chargers are currently popular. As the popularity of the Kindle continues to grow, and as further new models are introduced, it seems likely that more and more independent suppliers will benefit from Amazon’s innovation.

Costly Kindle Could Save You Money

Posted: August 1st, 2009 | Author: writingteam11 | Filed under: Wizardry | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

The latest Amazon Kindle e-book reader is, in my opinion at least, a dream come true. Of course, I can’t deny that, being someone who counts reading as one of my most enjoyable hobbies, I must be pretty much the Amazon marketing team’s ideal consumer. On average, I would expect to read an absolute minimum of one book a week – and it’s not so unusual for me to have one novel, one non-fiction and a fair number of reference books on the go at any one time.

 

I don’t think that’s so really uncommon, otherwise traditional print books wouldn’t sell so well, but it does mean that I can spend quite a bit of money on books. Apart from the monetary aspects, my collection of books quickly becomes untidy and space consuming. Every now and again I sort through the pile and, putting the reference books and my other favourites aside, have a bit of a clear out. Usually the books go to friends or charity shops.

 

I recently got rid of over fifty volumes in advance of moving house. It wasn’t until I saw them, boxed up and ready to go, that I realised I was looking at a spend of somewhere between $500 and $1000 which had built up in just under a year.

 

Now, whilst the Amazon Kindle is a fairly pricey item in itself, the downloadable e-books from the Kindle store are usually quite a bit cheaper than the printed equivalent. After all, the publisher will have no printing and distribution costs and there will be no postal charges for Amazon. Even with a saving of just a few dollars per book, quite achievable it seems, anyone who reads on a regular basis would pretty quickly recoup the cost of the device and then start saving money over time.

 

The potential benefits aren’t just financial. The Kindle 2 has a storage capacity for around 1500 e-books whereas the Kindle DX, which will start shipping on June 10 2009, can store 3500. That’s a fair amount of books – and it needs a lot of physical storage space that will no longer be taken up in your house or office.

 

Some users have suggested that the Kindle is a green, eco-friendly, device – based upon the fact that it will save on the usage of paper. It’s easy to see the logic, but obviously some consideration needs to be given to the materials used in production and also the manner in which the device will be disposed of when it reaches the end of its useful life.

 

The actual benefits achieved will vary from user to user and will probably depend chiefly on how many books are bought per annum. However, for keen readers, it does seem as if the Kindle can offer a number of different advantages which should justify the initial purchase price.