Why The Amazon Kindle Reader Is Such A Big Hit
What do Hilary Clinton, Stephen King, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oprah Winfrey have in common? Apart from the ability to scare you on occasion that is. The answer is that they have all, in different ways, been the source of good publicity for Amazon’s Kindle reader.
Oprah Winfrey was first. As far back as 2008 she announced that Amazon’s original Kindle was her “favorite new gadget”. She also interviewed Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, on her show and gave the Kindle a glowing testimonial. It was a real shot in the arm for Amazon.
Stephen King, the world’s best selling author, wrote a special novella – “Ur” – to mark the launch of Amazon’s updated reader, the Kindle 2, in February 2009. The plot, without giving the story away, related to the use of the Kindle itself and what happened when an English teacher bought a Kindle for himself after breaking up with his girlfriend. King read an extract from the book live on stage at the official Kindle 2 launch. More good publicity for Amazon.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his role as Governor of California, initiated a program to make free digital textbooks available in Californian schools. The program, which has several stages, was first introduced in August of 2009. It appeared that, in the case of digital textbooks at least, the future had arrived somewhat faster than many people expected it to. At the end of the day, if Arnie thinks that they’re a good idea who’s going to argue with him?
Staying with the educational theme, the New Democratic Leadership Council, a Washington think-tank of which Hilary Clinton is a member, released a white paper entitled “A Kindle In Every Backpack”. The paper espoused the benefits of introducing electronic books and e-book readers into the in the U.S. education system. Although the report did acknowledge that other devices could be employed the fact that the Kindle was referenced throughout the document, and even included in the title, was great publicity for Amazon.
The above examples are no more than four snapshots of the massive exposure the Kindle reader has managed to achieve. During 2009, the Kindle generated a great deal of publicity, mainly for itself but also for e-book readers as a whole. It’s easy to see how the Kindle has managed to secure a 60% share of the U.S. e-book reader market.
Currently there is no shortage of companies with their own e-book readers on the market. Although some of these feature technical specs which, in some areas at least, outstrips Amazon’s Kindle, there just doesn’t seem to be the same buzz about any of them that existed, and to a large extent still exists, around the Kindle. It really is difficult to see where the Kindle Killer is coming from – unless it’s the next Kindle upgrade itself of course.
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