Lessons Learned from the Kindle

Here's an excellent Kindle article from Elizabeth Blackwell on TheStreet.com. The various quotes from me are the result of a conversation Elizabeth and I had recently. I wasn't sure what direction she was taking this story in but I think she nailed it with her three key points:

Think User-Friendly -- Sure, the physical design is weak but it still resulted in a device that ranks high on convenience (even though I'm trying to use mine as more of a print replacement than most other Kindle owners).

Make Buying Easy -- I don't think the model could be any better than Amazon's one-click purchase and fast, wireless download. In fact, plenty of Kindle owners are complaining that it's too easy!

Price it Right -- OK, we're talking about the books/content pricing model, not the price of the device! $350 is still way too high a price for wide adoption but if those 250K-300K first-year device sales estimates are accurate I'll bet Amazon is quite happy with these early adopter results.