Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I definitely applaud Amazon's ability to secure the front page of Newsweek magazine. Amazon must have caught Newsweek in a compromising position at some point and ransomed their way onto the front page. Regardless, a very nice media hit.

The Kindle is not new, it won't be groundbreaking, and it will most likely fail like all of the digital readers before it. Ask Sony, a company that actually makes electronics.

As a nerd, bibliophile or just a lover of books (I prefer the latter), I take great offense to Kindle and what it aims to accomplish: the dilution of literature.

Everything about this product underscores all of the efforts of the past 500 years to bring the printed word to the masses.

But you ask, "Won't this make reading more accessible to individuals?"

Absolutely not.

This product is $400. A price tag equivalent to the current cost of the iPhone, which offers far more capabilities (even many books online through the Gutenberg Project) in a much smaller and attractive package. The Kindle is ugly. I'm sorry, but I said it.

The argument against the cost is that books available through Kindle are far cheaper than those available in print. One big problem with this intended selling point. Can I go to a library, grab a Kindle and download a book for free?

Not yet.

There is a reason why Johannes Gutenberg's press with movable type is considered one of the greatest inventions in history. It provided information to those who couldn't previously obtain it. Kindle is a high-priced gadget.

More importantly, reading is Romantic (notice the capital "R"). There is a tangible aesthetic to picking up a book, thumbing through the pages and feeling the progress being made as characters and stories become life changing.

The Kindle cannot hold a candle to this feeling and I, personally, have no desire to even give it the chance to sway me.

Amazon's marketing team are taking a page from the Book of Jobs (Steve that is) and trying to influence holiday consumers into believing that the Kindle is the absolute future for reading. Unfortunately, they may have picked the wrong time to launch a high-priced toy that seems slightly half baked. 

The most I envision for Kindle is the role of conversation starter in an Omaha airport between two wealthy business travelers.