Amazon’s Kindle

The blogosphere has been abuzz with Amazon’s ebook reader named ‘Kindle’.

I think this gadget is indeed disruptive if you consider the fact that, you can read magazines, newspapers, blogs, any textual content on Kindle downloaded straight from the internet for some cost. This totally eliminates the need of a middlemen like the publisher, distributor, retailer and also paper which can save a lot of money and trees. A creative writer can directly reach the masses thanks to the internet and get his due.

But will I buy a Kindle for myslef? The answer is NO.

Why?

1. Its not Open. Though a good thing about Kindle is that you do not need a Computer to use it, it soon turns out to be a disadvantage because, you cannot transfer your existing ebooks from your computer to the Kindle reader. I think this is a huge negative because you should given the freedom to use your device, the way you want it.

2. $400 price tag.

3. Doesn’t look ergonomic. I can’t imagine holding it while lying on my bed.

4. Why does it have a hardware keyboard? Didn’t the iPhone render it obsolete? Especially, for a e-book Reader where you’d expect one to read more than write, the keyboard doesn’t add much value and seems to add to the bulk. Touch screens cannot be done on e-Ink displays?

5. You cannot share your ebooks with your friends. Ofcourse, you can share the Kindle gadget itself  🙂

6. No color. Yet.

But even with these disadvantages, I think the e-reader, given its internet backend does have a future. How many young people read the paper-newspaper anyways? Most of my friends read their news from google.com/news.