A special treat for the Pickle today: The debut, in full-post form if not in comment form – of Sarah Rotman Epps. Sarah is a media analyst at Forrester Research, and she often teaches me fascinating and insightful things about media, communications, the internet, and the world. Accordingly, when I read Krugman’s column about the Amazon Kindle this morning – re-raising the profound question “whither the book?” – I wondered if Sarah might have some thoughts she’s like to share. She did. Here they are:
Hello Pickle Nation. I agree with the central premise that the economics of content are swinging largely towards free for consumers and ad-supported; it's the subject of Long Tail author Chris Anderson's new book.
It's not true that all content has to be free; I'm working on a market sizing now that shows that consumers do pay for certain things (case in point: Rock Band song downloads, 7M of which have sold so far). But this is certainly the exception and not the rule. Even the videogame industry is experimenting with free, full-length ad-supported games to adjust to the rampant piracy of PC games (example: Battlefield, a major release from EA).
As for whether Kindle will be a game-changer for eBooks, I don't know. According to Forrester's data, only 5% of US consumers own or have used an eBook device (Kindle or otherwise). People who have used it give it rave reviews; they love the paper-quality screen and the ability to download books in real time. But the appeal of the device right now is for tech-optimist early adopters who also like to read; there's another fairly sizable segment (34% of US online consumers, according to Forrester's data) that "reads a lot, but prefers real books" (I personally am in this group; the last thing my book needs is a battery and I do really like paper, however nostalgic that may be--call me Clarisse from Fahrenheit 451; I'd rather be her than Mildred.).
Pickle readers, we'd love to hear your thoughts--are you a Clarisse or a Mildred? Have you used the Kindle? Do you need another battery-operated device in your life?
Friday, June 6, 2008
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2 comments:
Great post! While the Kindle is cool, compact, and convenient for readers, I still prefer “real books”. There’s something visceral about the smell and feel of a book - so I guess I’m a Clarisse.
Definitely me too. I dare any mildred to speak now!
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