Amazing Amazon

I’ve been an avid customer of Amazon.com since their inception over a decade ago. More recently I’ve become a student of this successful business. From technology to strategy, Amazon.com is unlike virtually any other business around. No, they’re not the most successful from Market Capitalisation, or Branding, or even Revenues. But they know their market, and balance operational costs of supply, whilst delighting their customers (and partners).

You just don’t see them in mainstream media, yet they’ve managed to become a household name. I remember well, when I lived in the UK, before the dot.com bust how colleagues in the Internet industry disparaged Amazon for “not having made a dollar yet!” These same colleagues are reeling from this second, greater recession, whilst Amazon a still delighting their customers.

I love being able to buy my family and friends (most whom live in the US and UK) gifts on their birthday in Australia, secure in the knowledge that these are delivered still in time. I love being able to buy both fiction books not available in Australia, for less than the retail price when they are available, including international shipping. I love being able to buy non-fiction books, delivered, in less time and for less than even discounted books in Australia. I love being able to host my podcast, videos, and backup all my critical data on Amazon Web Services S3, for around $1 per month. I am a delighted Amazon customer, in 3 countries, over 12 years, this company has never failed to live up to their promises. This Christmas, they’ve come through again with two products. Not perfect mind you, but significantly disruptive.

The first was a 24 hour sale on the Flip MinoHD (4GB) version. The sale was for 24 hours on Sat 20th December, and the discount was 40%. So this great little camcorder was US$119 instead of US$199. With the AU$ to US$ exchange rate, and international shipping, the price came to about AU$160. What was far more impressive, however, was that I received the MinoHD on the morning of Tue 23 Dec! Wow, international delivery over the Christmas period in under 2 business days!What brought a real smile to my face was seeing the 2GB version of the camera in Dick Smith and JB Hifi for AU$298.

The second is the Amazon Kindle, which Lucy bought me for Christmas. I know that Amazon have been criticised for the International version of their amazingly popular Kindle. Also for their upgrade strategy from the Kindle 1, specifically for people without broadband, whom have to reload their libraries for a fee using Whispernet. And in conversations strikingly reminiscent of competitors back in the 90’s, critics point out the “superior” e-book readers from Sony, and (yet to be released) Barnes & Noble.

My experience belies these criticisms, however. I have found the Kindle to be nothing short of world changing!

Even though my good friend Kean got one in November, and I’d cursorily glanced at his, I was still surprised at just how light the device is. Also at the clarity of the text on the screen. It is nothing like reading a CRT, LCD, Plasma, or LED screen. There is no backlight, so no strain on the eyes, no drain on the battery, and no reflectivity issue in bright sunlight. Rather it reads exactly like ink on paper. Even staring closely at the text seems like staring closely at a printed book. I’ve been reading pretty continuously since Christmas day, with no eye strain. That’s just not possible on a computer screen, or an iPhone one for that matter.

Also amazing is battery life. I received my Kindle with only half a charge, and only today started charging the device despite it still showing about a quarter charge remaining. Without backlight, you do need alternative illumination at night, just like you would a printed book. I was fortunate to receive a Kindle specific reading light, which attaches to the Kindle and is powered by a single AAA battery. But the lack of backlighting significantly improves battery life.

The other major saving is in using 3G rather than Wi-Fi. Whispernet, Amazon’s wireless sync technology is a dedicated SIM with AT&T. From what I can tell, they roam with Telstra NextG in Australia, which is brilliant. Even on holiday near Wiseman’s Ferry on the Hawkesbury, with no Optus, Vodafone, or 3 access, I have full 7.2Mbps access on the Kindle. You can of course switch wireless off, giving yet more battery life, and this is probably a good practice. Apart from downloading books, Whispernet is used to backup bookmarks, most recent page read, any notes or annotations made, and to download subscriptions (newspapers, magazines, blogs). This is very useful if you use more than one device (the Windows client is readily available internationally, the iPhone client only in the USA), but hardly necessary all the time. I’ve taken to having Wireless on when browsing the store, and once a day to backup any changes I’ve made. With wireless off, I’m reliably told the battery will last some 3 weeks.

Then there’s access and storage! Here the Kindle shows it’s true advantages over printed works, in the same way the printing press very quickly outstripped handwritten works.

You have access to over 30,000 books on the Amazon store – yes I know this is trifling compared to the millions in the library of Congress – but you don’t have to get anywhere to access these books. Many of these are free, or a trifling cost ($2). But the ability to just login to the store, and download a book in under a minute with a single click, is remarkable. See a book at WH Smiths at the airport, and before you’re at your gate it’s happily on your Kindle. Transmission charges are included in the book price, and prices tend to be 20% – 60% less than pre-delivery prices on printed works.

The Kindle will store some 1500 books, which is to say about 4 – 5 times our library at home. More than all of the textbooks I used in my K-12 and University education. All pristine, even after my annotations. That doesn’t limit the number of books you can have in your Kindle library, just those on the Kindle device itself. Once you’ve read a book, you can archive it to your library on the Net. So, wherever you are in the world, you can access pretty much all of your favourite books. Discoverers like Stanley, Livingstone, Darwin, and Cook were forced to transport their reference and reading materials in trunks.

Not only do you have this wealth of reading materials to hand, but there are a couple more compelling features of an e-Book: The first: Search! Just start typing and you can search on any term in your entire library on the device. Within seconds you can get to the exact context of your search.

Second: Audio! The Kindle has a text to voice feature, which will read the book to you when you can read it for yourself. Perhaps it’s standing room only on the bus, or you’re camping and don’t have a reading light. Of course the next time you start reading again, the Kindle will pickup from where you left off. More natural are actual audio books. You can register the Kindle with Audible.com, and download your audio books directly to the device. This is a great way to “read” books, which I’ve alluded to before. There are simply times it’s not practical to read, typically when you don’t have access to your eyes and/or hands, e.g. when cycling, driving, or doing the ironing. Personally I use my Zune and iPhone for Audible books, and can’t see using the Kindle for this any time soon. But then this is a device for those without other gadgets. They say some 30% of original P
alm Pilot users didn’t own a computer, but just changed their filofaxes for the digital version. I have no doubt that there’ll be a growing contingent of non-gadget technophobes with Kindles too. For those, the ability to listen to best sellers and self-help books narrated by the author on their book, will be a boon.

Then there are some other features I haven’t had a chance to try yet – like loading MP3’s on the device so you can listen to your favourite tracks whilst reading your favourite book. You can email most documents (odf, doc, doc, pdf etc) to your Kindle email address, which for a fee you can download straight to the device from your Amazon library. You can email them to your personal on-computer library too, to download for free over USB.

I’ve come across no shortage of critics since mentioning my desire to get a Kindle. I’ve observed two distinct camps. The luddites and the geeks. The luddites wax on about their love of paper, the feel of turning the page, and how computer screens will never match up. In their pious assumption that a true geek like me must prefer technology to paper, they assume that I don’t enjoy paper, or reading “real” books like they do. Therefore any digital technology must be inferior to the analogue analogue To these critics I say “try the Kindle!” It really is like reading the printed page, and having your entire library of fiction, non-fiction, reference, and self-authored books and articles in a thin, light book will revolutionise reading. Just like the printing press revolutionised reading in the reformation. Forget about OLPC, an e-book reader per child would be far more impactful in world education.

To the geeks the trend of device convergence is their latest mantra. Why don’t I use a netbook, a laptop, my phone. After all why have 5 devices to carry, charge, sync. In their “all digital is superior to analogue” world, there isn’t room for a dedicated device, and to propose there may be reason for one, is tantamount to heresy. Seriously the arguments are that passionate. To them I say “try the Kindle.” It really has all of the advantages of mobile technology, with the best of a dedicated device. Like all dedicated devices, DSLR camera’s, HD camcorders, MP3 players, and Smartphones, the Kindle produces the best results for it’s purposes. Yes, you can take photo’s and videos, listen to music, and read on your phone, but these will always be substandard experiences compromised by the constraints (battery life, form factor, interface) of the phone.

When all is said and done, Amazon is an amazing company. They focus on their customers, and integrate the digital and analogue, the virtual and real, to the delight of their customers.