2007 Gadget of the Year: Amazon Kindle

27Dec07

Most anyone who knows me will be surprised that I chose the Kindle over the iPhone as the best gadget of 2007. After all, I was one of those crazy people who stood in line for several hours on the opening day that the iPhone was released. The iPhone is a fantastic device and is by far the best mobile phone I’ve ever owned. However, while the iPhone has enhanced my overall experience of a mobile phone and set new standards in both form and function, it did not fundamentally change the way I communicate while on the go. Nor did it change the way I listen to music. Simply put, it just livened up the experience a bit and gave great demos for everyone curious about all of the hype. The Amazon Kindle on the other-hand, has changed my daily experience in my reading regimen, and as a result, I am reading more than I did prior to owning the Kindle — which is a good thing. So, while the iPhone is testimony of excellent design and great innovation, the Kindle has made more of a technological and practical impact and therefore gets the nod for the best device of the year.

I’m not saying that the Kindle cannot be improved upon. I’ve been pretty vocal about the direction that Amazon should take with regards to their first foray into consumer electronics. I also do not disagree with many of the criticisms about the design — it’s bigger than it needs to be and it will not win any beauty pageants. The page buttons on the side need to be revamped and I would like for the Kindle to have more of a premium feel to it. Aside from its design shortcomings, the sheer practicality and convenience that the Kindle provides is really fantastic. For me, the highlights of the Kindle are the wireless connectivity to the Amazon store, automatic delivery of periodicals, and availability of reference materials (namely, the dictionary and Wikipedia). The Sony reader offers none of these aspects.

There are seemingly endless comparisons and immediate disparagement of the Kindle to that of the first generation iPod. People are quick to remark that the Kindle will not have near the impact that the iPod did as a game changing device. I somewhat disagree with this sentiment. As the iPod was not the first hard-drive based digital MP3 player, the Kindle is not the first e-reader. As I recall walking the isle of a plane in 2002 with my iPod, most people were still listening to music with their portable CD players and a half-dozen CD’s on-hand; digital music had yet to take-off. I think we are at the same point with e-books. While the Kindle will not kill the paper-based book, I believe it will be remembered for causing a shift in the publishing market and largely be responsible for e-readers to be popularized and I predict that we will see a near triple-digit growth rate in e-book consumption for the next several years. I don’t think that the Kindle will see a such a dominant position in the market as the iPod has enjoyed. If anything, Amazon has just upped the ante for anyone looking to jump into the e-reader game. However, the other side of the iPod success equation was the integration of iTunes and later, the release of the iTunes store. Amazon has a similar opportunity to box-out competitors with the Kindle store. I would just rather see them open their store up to other forthcoming e-readers with wireless capabilities.

My one request to all of those bloggers that are quick to bash the Kindle: Before your next Kindle lambasting, try actually using one for 20 minutes. I realize that might be tough with a supposed Kindle shortage, but I respect the opinions of those that speak from experience rather than those who want to jump on the bandwagon of naysayers who have yet to touch a Kindle.

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Tags: e-reader, kindle