It’s featured on Amazon’s home page, and the star-power testimony behind it runs from Toni Morrison to Michael Lewis. But is Amazon’s new e-book reader, Kindle, produced with Cambridge company E Ink’s “electronic paper” technology, a winner? Will it really transform the way people consume literature? At $399 for the reader and $9.99 a book, Xconomy’s Wade Roush says it falls short of the mark.
With the holiday shopping season officially underway, and the staff reeling from over-consumption, we couldn’t resist putting up a poll to find out how readers feel. The choices are: “stick with paper,” “wait for a big price drop,” “and buy it now.” The early returns favor paper. But we’d like to hear from more of you. You can find the poll on the lower right portion of all Xconomy pages.
Author: Robert Buderi
Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative.
Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.
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