“There are a lot of reasons why comparing Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch to Amazon.com’s Kindle makes no sense. You can make phone calls on the iPhone. You can read Robinson Crusoe on the Kindle. You can watch video on the iPhone. You can read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash on the Kindle. The iPhone is a multi-tool for the electronic age. The Kindle is purpose-built for the much older task of gulping down big chunks of text,” Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes.
MacDailyNews Take: You can also read Robinson Crusoe and Snow Crash on the iPhone and iPod touch, as Caulfield is about to point out…
Caulfield continues, “Amazon has slated a news conference at Pace University on Wednesday morning, where the online retailer is expected to introduce a wide-screen, newspaper-friendly edition of its Kindle reader. The device, along with a gizmo being developed by Hearst Media for launch next year, are being held out as the last, best hope for old media. Big mistake.”
Caufield writes, “Apple’s iPhone makes it plain why this is so. Why else would Amazon be so eager to put the Kindle’s functionality on the iPhone? So far this year, Amazon has introduced software that allows you to read books you’ve purchased for the Kindle on the iPhone, and snapped up Stanza, whose software also puts books on the phone.”
“Maybe that’s because Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos knows that Apple is going in a more interesting direction with its slim little tablet than Amazon can. Apple has sold 37 million iPhones and iPod touches,” Caufield reports. “The Kindle isn’t even close.”
Full article here.
