The Kindle Refuses to Die

Sales soaring of the device iPad was to make obsolete
By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2010 11:19 AM CDT
The Kindle Refuses to Die
FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2009 file photo, the Kindle 2 electronic reader is shown at an Amazon.com news conference in New York. Amazon.com, which has dominated the young but fast-growing electronic book market for the past few years with the Kindle, could get its first real threat Saturday, April 3, 2010,...   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)

Looks like the advance obits for the Kindle, which was supposed to be killed off by the iPad, were a bit premature. The iPad is selling sensationally (3.3 million and counting), Daniel Lyons notes in Newsweek, but so is the Kindle (3.5 million this year). Why? Sure, slashing prices to $189 helped triple sales, but there's also the fact that the Kindle, if not as sexy as the iPad, is arguably better for reading books. Here's why:

  • It weighs less than half as much as the iPad
  • The Kindle screen is easier on the eyes and more visible outdoors, in sunlight.

  • It has a much longer battery life—more than a week, compared to a puny 10 hours
  • There's no contract and no monthly fee
  • There are 10 times more books available
  • The Kindle app runs on everything, not just Apple devices
Prognosticators are still predicting the Kindle's demise, unless Jeff Bezos wises up and develops a tablet, but for now, he's busy enjoying the fact that sales of books on the Kindle soared past hardbacks this year, too.
(More Amazon stories.)

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