‘Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual’ author to return Kindle Fire, keep his ‘years ahead’ Apple iPad 2

12 years ago

“It is still early days for the Fire. Many were doubtless sold as Christmas gifts, so the true verdict from the masses won’t come for a few weeks,” David Streitfeld writes for The New York Times. “But in the meantime here is another professional evaluation, from someone who has probably used the Kindle more than anyone who does not work for Amazon. Peter Meyers is a digital book consultant who is writing ‘Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience’ (free download of the first three chapters here). He broke off from that effort last month to write ‘Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual,’ to be published in January as a print volume and an e-book from O’Reilly Media. Mr. Meyers could be accused of bias; if the Fire is a tremendous failure, the market for his manual would be negligible. But he was not paid by Amazon to write it, and the retailer had no control over its contents. Amazon did not even give him a Fire.”

Streitfeld reports, “Mr. Meyers’s verdict, in an e-mail to me: ‘Apple would have never shipped a device like the Fire. It’s got way too many rough edges (sluggish touchscreen, magazine apps that don’t really fit the smaller screen, an easy-to-hit power button). And even little things like how the power cord jiggles when plugged in wouldn’t have made it past the demo room in Cupertino.'”

“Once his manual is finished, Mr. Meyers does not see much of a future for his own Kindle Fire,” Streitfeld reports. “‘Mine’s going back in the box as soon as I’m done,’ he wrote. ‘The iPad 2 is years ahead of it and lets me consume and create with no friction.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: When even your “Missing Manual” author doesn’t like the product, you’ve got quite the problem. No wonder Amazon doesn’t disclose Kindle figures; knowing the number of post-holiday Kindle Fire returns would likely make analysts’ heads spin.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]

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