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walkitoutI'm a big fan of the all-in-one device. Really! I know you're skeptical, given all this kindle crap I keep posting about. I bought the first Treo cell phone on the market, largely because it pissed me off that I was carrying around a few ounces of phone AND a few ounces of PDA. I put up with a couple rounds of it breaking on me, too, before I gave in and got a basic phone (had to when I moved out here where this is nothing but Verizon anyway) and eventually got a new PDA which I was never very happy with. Regular readers may recall my agonizing over the purchase of a Centro, and whether or not I should stall because I might move and blah, blah, bleeping blah, but I ultimately decided that it would justify its existence quickly enough to make it worth the trouble and indeed, I've used the web browser and check e-mail features often enough in parking lots while waiting to be reasonably pleased.
In fact, the centro plus a kindle makes a laptop, at least on short trips, superfluous. At least, as long as there is a navigator in the vehicle we are driving. Which would be a form of the abandon-your-laptop argument for the kindle. But that's actually not where I'm going here.
One of the places I'm trying to explore is cost. I've pretty much beaten to death the cheaper device vs. savings on books argument. Now I'm after the monthly-cost aspect. Obviously, a non-connected PDA that you stuff Mobipocket books (or similar, ideally free public domain things, or Baen backlist or whatever) on is going to be the cheapest all-around: no/minimal cost for the books, cheap device cost, no monthly cost (okay, power to recharge something, and however you get stuff from the internet onto your device). The kindle adds a higher device cost, but no monthly cost if you stick to the same kind of books (which you can) and use the USB cable.
But that's not what a lot of people are talking about. People seem to really like to get the books onto the device without the intervening computer. I'm okay with that (hey, that's one of the benefits of moving -- I'll be able to use the EVDO connection on the kindle). And an iPhone or even another smartphone is probably a cheaper device to buy than the kindle to get that connectivity (and it's a phone, but we'll get back to that in a moment). But the monthly cost on the iPhone or other smartphone is kinda steep (figuring $70 and up for an all-you-can-eat data plan), whereas the monthly cost on the kindle is very small (if you trigger the .10 charge for transferring a file). (I'm not talking about buying content in this post, just the cost to use the wireless transfer.)
These are obviously different fruits. And herein lies another area for the gadget press to seriously disconnect from the standard audience for the kindle. Your basic nose-in-a-book person is not your basic-hang-on-the-phone person -- or even your basic constantly-texting person. Your basic nose-in-a-book person may, in fact, be quite reluctant to use a phone, and if they have a cell phone at all, it's primarily for emergencies, kid pickup and drop off and similar. A phone may be useful, but it brings no joy. Similarly, a PDA is useful, but not typically a source of joy.
And _that_ is the beauty of the all-in-one device. I have to carry all this crap around with me (money, a pen, ID, diapers, a change of clothes for A., wipes, blah, blah bleeping blah), including a cell phone and probably a PDA. None of those things bring me joy. They are things I use.
The kindle, by contrast, I do not have to carry around with me and often I do not. But the kindle brings me joy. And let me tell you, if you've got the money, it's a lot easier to spend money on joy, than on useful.
If, however, I was not a nose-in-a-book person, but rather a hang-on-the-phone or constantly-text person, I'm betting I'd be a whole lot less interested in the kindle, and a whole lot more interested in figuring out a way to tack the utility of reading a book when I'm stuck somewhere onto my existing stash of useful items. Because _then_ it would not be about joy. It would be about useful. A kind of useful primarily associated with being stuck waiting somewhere unexpectedly. Not really $359 worth of disposable income material. Certainly not carry 10.whatever ounces worth of probably breakable and definitely dead battery when I need to use it material.
In fact, the centro plus a kindle makes a laptop, at least on short trips, superfluous. At least, as long as there is a navigator in the vehicle we are driving. Which would be a form of the abandon-your-laptop argument for the kindle. But that's actually not where I'm going here.
One of the places I'm trying to explore is cost. I've pretty much beaten to death the cheaper device vs. savings on books argument. Now I'm after the monthly-cost aspect. Obviously, a non-connected PDA that you stuff Mobipocket books (or similar, ideally free public domain things, or Baen backlist or whatever) on is going to be the cheapest all-around: no/minimal cost for the books, cheap device cost, no monthly cost (okay, power to recharge something, and however you get stuff from the internet onto your device). The kindle adds a higher device cost, but no monthly cost if you stick to the same kind of books (which you can) and use the USB cable.
But that's not what a lot of people are talking about. People seem to really like to get the books onto the device without the intervening computer. I'm okay with that (hey, that's one of the benefits of moving -- I'll be able to use the EVDO connection on the kindle). And an iPhone or even another smartphone is probably a cheaper device to buy than the kindle to get that connectivity (and it's a phone, but we'll get back to that in a moment). But the monthly cost on the iPhone or other smartphone is kinda steep (figuring $70 and up for an all-you-can-eat data plan), whereas the monthly cost on the kindle is very small (if you trigger the .10 charge for transferring a file). (I'm not talking about buying content in this post, just the cost to use the wireless transfer.)
These are obviously different fruits. And herein lies another area for the gadget press to seriously disconnect from the standard audience for the kindle. Your basic nose-in-a-book person is not your basic-hang-on-the-phone person -- or even your basic constantly-texting person. Your basic nose-in-a-book person may, in fact, be quite reluctant to use a phone, and if they have a cell phone at all, it's primarily for emergencies, kid pickup and drop off and similar. A phone may be useful, but it brings no joy. Similarly, a PDA is useful, but not typically a source of joy.
And _that_ is the beauty of the all-in-one device. I have to carry all this crap around with me (money, a pen, ID, diapers, a change of clothes for A., wipes, blah, blah bleeping blah), including a cell phone and probably a PDA. None of those things bring me joy. They are things I use.
The kindle, by contrast, I do not have to carry around with me and often I do not. But the kindle brings me joy. And let me tell you, if you've got the money, it's a lot easier to spend money on joy, than on useful.
If, however, I was not a nose-in-a-book person, but rather a hang-on-the-phone or constantly-text person, I'm betting I'd be a whole lot less interested in the kindle, and a whole lot more interested in figuring out a way to tack the utility of reading a book when I'm stuck somewhere onto my existing stash of useful items. Because _then_ it would not be about joy. It would be about useful. A kind of useful primarily associated with being stuck waiting somewhere unexpectedly. Not really $359 worth of disposable income material. Certainly not carry 10.whatever ounces worth of probably breakable and definitely dead battery when I need to use it material.
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Date: 2009-02-12 08:53 pm (UTC)Also, I hope the Kindle has great success and is accepted in schools before Nikolai has to carry a humongous backpack of textbooks around.