Last week, when I posted on Kindle 2, I mentioned that we had an interview in the works with Andrew (Drew) Herdener, a Senior PR Manager at Amazon. I put together a number of questions I hoped Drew would be willing (or able) to answer. Unfortunately, while Drew wished he could have answered more, in his words, I “asked for a few pieces of information that we do not disclose.” Of course, I already knew that, but I was hoping for more.
Here’s how it went:
Good morning Drew,
As promised last week, I’ve put together a list of questions regarding the Amazon Kindle.
Let me preface this by stating that I’m a big believer in ebooks and the Kindle; I believe the step into the future is long overdue. However, I also believe it to be important to be progressive in the delivery of the units themselves to as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. I see a day in the not-so-distant future when e-readers from companies like Sony (but not necessarily Sony) will be available for less than $100—probably less than $50. While they might have to employ the use of a computer to assist with download, such a drastic difference in cost coupled with the “Amazon only” nature of Kindle books could spell disaster both for Amazon as well as those who have purchased Kindles. It should be obvious that Kindle purchasers are purchasing Amazon—how goes Amazon, so goes Kindle, which is a risk no matter how one looks at it.
So, with all that in mind, here are my questions:
Daniel: I estimate that there have been roughly 250,000 Kindles sold to date. Am I close or way off, or is Amazon still unwilling to release the sales figures?
Drew: We don’t disclose unit sales or comment on third-party estimates.
Daniel: Is there a Kindle 2 (for lack of a better name) in the works, and, if so, is there a ballpark release date?
A. Any design changes you can talk about? Touchscreen? Eliminate Keyboard? A fix for the “too easy to accidentally turn the page” problem?
B. How far off is color?
C. Will we be able to use it outside the U.S.?
D. Will Kindle 2 be cheaper?
Drew: The next version won’t be out until next year at the earliest. We aren’t disclosing details beyond that.
Daniel: Voracious, not-so-wealthy readers have done the math and figured that by reading one book a week and saving roughly $6.00 per book off the Amazon discounted hardcover price, it would take over a year of reading to make back the price of the Kindle. The very realistic fear is that by that time, something new and better will be on the market, not to mention that it would seem that only those who DON’T do the math (or do it and have enough money that they don’t care) would see buying the Kindle as making sense. Was the “give away the Gillette razor and make your profit on the blades” theory discussed prior to the initial release in November of 2007?
Drew: When you consider the fact that Kindle has an EVDO radio, e-Ink, and that Amazon pays for all of the wireless charges for downloading, we think Kindle is a great value.
Daniel: I’m not questioning that. In fact, to a degree, I agree. The question was whether or not the Gillette theory makes sense. In other words, with a slight increase in price, from say $9.99 to $11.99, or even $10.99, the wireless charges would be paid for on an ongoing basis, so why not charge substantially less for the device (even take a loss) in order to get as many out there as possible, hen make the money back in future years? Here, I’m asking for an opinion on a hypothetical rather than whether or not it was ever discussed–I’m going to assume you can’t tell me what was or wasn’t discussed.
Drew: I prefer not to get into hypotheticals—we believe that both Kindle and Kindle books are a great value for customers.
Daniel: Since Kindle is a POS device, are there any plans to open up the rest of Amazon sales to a Kindle? In other words, “one click” for televisions, cameras, etc.?
Drew: We don’t comment on what future plans we do or do not have.
Daniel: In November of 2007, Jeff stated the ultimate goal of the Kindle project to be to have available for less than 50 second download every book ever printed, whether or not the book is currently in print. He mentioned barriers such as rights issues and the expense of digitizing a book only a very few people would ever want to read. Where is that project now? Are any out of print books available on Kindle? Has that part of the project stalled? Is Google helping?
Drew: We’ve doubled the number of books available on Kindle since launch—from 90,000 to 180,000 today, so it’s going well. But the vision you refer to is a massive task, so we have a lot of work ahead of us. We work closely with thousands of publishers and independent authors. To be specific, nothing has stalled—it’s a major focus for the Kindle team and we are pleased with the progress.
Daniel: I’m interested in a specific part of the question. That is whether or not any out of print books have been made available?
Drew I’m not sure about out of print yet, but there are certainly out of copyright books.
Daniel: Finally, and please don’t avoid this one, if you had Kindle to do all over again, would you change anything in the design and/or pricing, and, if so, what?
Drew: We are happy with the first version of Kindle, as are the vast majority of people who own a Kindle (if you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out the customer reviews). As with any first version though, you do learn, and we are listening intently to our customers who have feedback.
So, that was it. Not much that we didn’t already know - maybe nothing. In any event, I stand by my position that substancially lower cost units with slightly increased per-download charges, makes more sense. And having said that, if Drew is willing to send me a Kindle at $50, I’ll promise to put it to good use!
