Right Brain Thinking

Amazon has announced a fifth off the price of its Kindle device as it fights off the Barnes & Noble Nook and Apple's iPad as well as a plethora of opponents. How should Kindle play for Amazon - software or hardware?

What is the point of the Kindle Reader compared, say to the Barnes & Noble Nook. The form factor is pretty similar and does pretty much the same thing and enjoys the same constraints. It is light and good for reading books and fits in your bag with your phone and netbook/laptop.

Here's the rub: what is the point of it compared to a tablet which is an ebook reader and many other things as well. At the moment, tablet means iPad but soon the iPAd will be joined by all manner of Android and even Windows based tablets that are light and share a similar form factor as the Kindle.

It doesn't mean that Kindle is dead as the software and the kindle bookstore are winners even if the Apple book app looks a whole lot lovelier. They have a huge stock of ebooks compared to competitors (as far as I can tell) and so when I buy a book on the ipad (which is at least weekly) I go straight over to the Amazon kindle store for the one click purchase and the instant delivery. There is a downside with Kindle which is the black and white. Anybody reading a photo book on the ipad - what a treat. As Hockney says, it is like a stained glass window.