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I say go for it!

Doesn't something need to be a success before there are competing products to kill it?

Mar 03, 08 - 10:52 am Comment from: 7over

Yeah right! Because we all know what a firestorm the Kindle started as e-book readers burned the midnight oil waiting in line to get a chance to fire one up.
"It's so hot, we have to kill it now before it's raging out of control" said a melting Jobs.

.... sure.

Blog popularity shows that people do read. Hit counts show that many do not even bother to go to the second page, let alone read all of the comments before adding their own comment.

So people read but their attention span has dropped dramatically. The iPod Reader Touch must have a color screen so there are a few pictures to look at to keep the reader attentive. The monochrome Kindle just doesn't cut it.

Mar 03, 08 - 10:57 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

I read (lots!), I just prefer the look, feel, heft and smell of a real paper book.

Mar 03, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: gzero

AI:

A blog is not a book. Steve Jobs was talking about books.

Mar 03, 08 - 11:01 am Comment from: gzero

Steve Jobs comment was controversial, but statistically correct.

the kindle is already dead. Stillborn by the epidemic gripping america, stupidity. It will become our largest export in no time. Paris Hilton is on the cutting edge of this new market.

Hmmm...where have I read something like this before?


Steve Jobs Announces the iBook eBook Reader
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2255932,00.asp

Mar 03, 08 - 11:08 am Comment from: marcg

I also prefer to read a real book but as I student forced to carry many large, heavy text books, I love the fact that I can carry books on my Palm Tungsten. However, if Apple were to come out with some kind of larger screen version of the iPod Touch with the ability to use a bluetooth keyboard so that I could use it to take notes at school, I would drop my palm in a heartbeat.

Mar 03, 08 - 11:08 am Comment from: Spark

Yeah, does the Kindle really need killing?

I can't wait to buy books through iTunes and play on the five and a half inch screen.

Kindles's dead its Apple's turn to take a part in the industry of digital books.

I think the title gives Kindle a little too much credit.

Mar 03, 08 - 11:38 am Comment from: John

Heh, John Dykstra back in '75.... Great reference--and the Kindle really does look something like that!

Mar 03, 08 - 11:40 am Comment from: Cubert

"Amazon's Kindle looks like something John Dykstra superglued together back in 1975"

Or, like something that Lenny Dykstra beat the living $#!T out of with his baseball bat.

Mar 03, 08 - 11:43 am Comment from: Cubert

Apple will not release a separate device for this purpose. They will integrate it into the iPhone and iTouch.

I'd love a 10" iPod Touch. Thing would be a Kindle-killer, a tablet computer, the full wide-screen ipod we've been waiting for, etc. etc.

Mar 03, 08 - 12:05 pm Comment from: shen

"Doesn't something need to be a success before there are competing products to kill it?"

looking at the kindle i would say this would be a mercy killing...

Mar 03, 08 - 12:35 pm Comment from: Eric

"Without a doubt the Apple industrial design department could do a better job than Amazon in conceptualizing a digital book,"

Apple's Janitorial staff could do a better job than Amazon in conceptualizing a digital book. The kindle is an okay idea... but it's uglier than a crack whore's teeth, too limited in functionality and with such lousy design and limited applications, it is just plain absurdly overpriced.

"John Markoff blogs for The New York Times"

As a blogger for the NYT, he should know that "iTouch" should read "iPod Touch."

C'mon MDN, where's the [sic] in the article?

I think Jobs doesn't know where to stand yet, no long ago he said "AMERICANS DO NOT READ ANYMORE, NOBODY READ BOOKS IN AMERICA", and now he might be working on some kind of kindle killer.....c'mon Jobs give me a break....all this sucks

Mar 03, 08 - 12:58 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

"looking at the kindle i would say this would be a mercy killing..."

It has a certain... naive charm. But no *muscle*.

Mar 03, 08 - 12:59 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ antisteve

The point is, if Apple creates a Kindle killer, it won't just read books.

Mar 03, 08 - 01:03 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

"Amazon's Kindle looks like something John Dykstra superglued together back in 1975"

Maybe, but the Kindle has free, cellular, ubiquitous internet access which the MBA should have had included.

Mar 03, 08 - 01:07 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ HolyMackerel

But the other side of that is you have to pay Amazon every time you put anything on it.

Mar 03, 08 - 01:16 pm Comment from: alansky

My favorite Steve Jobs' "denial" was when he emphatically stated during a MacWorld keynote presentation that people didn't want to watch video on a 3-inch screen.

Mar 03, 08 - 01:25 pm Comment from: watchmacfan

His Highness Stevo only said that people no longer read a lot of books. No mention of listening to audiobooks sold on ITMS.
Just a thought.....

Mar 03, 08 - 01:57 pm Comment from: ken1w

Apple is not going to make a device that is just a "Kindle killer" (book reader). Apple's devices are about convergence.

Mar 03, 08 - 02:51 pm Comment from: HMCIV

HEY!! Don't knock ColecoVision. They had some good games for that console.

Mar 03, 08 - 02:58 pm Comment from: djd

For all the "kindle-skeptics" out there, if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. I'm the first to admit that it's not a pretty thing, but my wife got one and it's a lot nicer in person than the online photos make it out to be. For what it is, an e-book reader that is, it's pretty nice.

People to criticize the kindle without having used it are doing the same thing as those PC users who bash the Mac without ever having use it...

It'll read a book to you with improved synthetic voices and proper inflections. And yes, one of the voices will be named "Paris." It will be surprisingly popular because it'll sigh at the end of every paragraph <sigh>.

For the rest of you non-readers, you'll be able to browse your favorite magazines on it too, provided you have a subscription or a tolerance for ads. Goodbye paper, hello trees.

Know you know why they killed the iBook moniker.

Sign me up.

Mar 03, 08 - 04:44 pm Comment from: Sixvodkas

HolyMackerel;

Can Kindle run a web browser?
An email client?
Excel?
Any one of a dozen IM clients?
Can Kindle connect to iTunes?
How about running iMovie, iDVD and iPhoto?

Gee, HolyMackerel, it sure seems to me that the MBA has a LOT more going for it than Kindle does... or haven't you noticed that Kindle is a book reader and the MBA is a laptop?

And if you're gonna tell me that other laptops include "free, cellular, ubiquitous internet access", I'm gonna call you out on it.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:44 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

@sixvodkas

Yes, I heard the kindle has a web browser. I am sure Apple could make money from sales of songs, books, games & apps.
The MBA is preferred as you say, but until WiMax is here an MBA with mobile Internet would match the other iPhone-like elements.

My eyes deserve better, than just reading text, when it can be read to me...