I still remember one of the interesting cases I did in my Strategy class in the 1st MBA year is on Amazon Kindle. Philip Leslie, a very smart professor, asked us the question in one of the exams on the business problems for Kindle.
At that time, I was still not a Kindle user, while I hope I was. I am in a trial with Kindle for a whole week, and there's so many things I expect more. Technically speaking, Amazon is trying to change the whole experience of reading a book, and it's hard imagine a person already read books for at least over 20 years before he or she tries Kindle. I hope Amazon does have a Chief Experience Officer for Kindle to actually design an enjoyable product.
(1) a bigger screen. Currently, there are only 12 lines in one page, which is such a pain for the fast reader like me. I get bored with pressing the "next page" button all the time.
(2) a touch screen. I do like drawing on a book, and i hope i can have a pen and draw on Kindle, just like my IBM Tablet can. If it is hard, then how about a scroll ball that my favorite Blackberry has?
(3) removing the keyboard. who needs a Key Board on a book reader? if you want to type an artcile, using laotop will be much faster. Removing the keyboard with definitely reduce the cost and make the Kindle available to more people.
(4) A folding screen. That will make Kindle more like a book.
(5) Move the power button and wireless button from the back to front. Come on, right now when I want to turn on or off the Kindle, I have to look for the button on the back, which is really not convenient.
The reason why users are crazy about Apple product is its super user experience. you can easily get addicted. For Amazon who is famous for its operation efficiency, there's still a long way to go on the product design part. Speaking of this, I believe Amazon will change fast. Look forward to trying the Kindle verson 2 and so on.
3 comments:
Not sure how quickly Amazon learns, because the Kindle 2 (that came out couple of weeks ago) still has the small screen and the ugly keyboard. Try the iLiad ebook reader, that's my favorite. Touch screen, no external keyboard and bigger screen.
In Japan the first color ebook launched last week (over USD 1000...), once that becomes standard I think the ebook will break through. It takes some time to get used to, but eventually the general public will also start try it and get hooked. Now too many people still compare it to reading a book on a computer or iPhone.
Regards from Palo Alto (totally jet lagged at 3 AM),
Marc
thanks, marc, i just saw the new Kindle, and doesn't really improve that much. maybe I should try that Japanese one.....
I just got a Kindle. The keyboard is very useful, and makes the Kindle better than the Sony Ereader.
Apple's "user experience" is rather overrated. I remember the Macs that for years had you bend a paperclip and jam it into a pinhole to eject the media.
The PC companies (supposedly knowing less about "good design") simply had an easy to see, easy to press button instead of a pinhole.
And even vaunted iPod lacks that most basic control: a power button. Something that is nicely present on the Kindle.
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