When I look at Samsung, I see a company that is great at identifying hot markets and developing solutions for them. There is no question that Amazon has made the e-book market interesting again with Kindle 1.0 and Kindle 2.0. So it was never surprising to see companies such as Samsung jump on the chance to get a piece of this market. Samsung Papyrus may be Samsung’s chance to get into the e-book market. I just can’t see how it can compete with Amazon Kindle.
Papyrus comes with 512 on board memory, a touch screen, and no EVDO connection. But that hasn’t stopped Samsung from asking $299 for it. Now, I don’t have a problem with the device. It’s an attractive gadget, and it allows you to read books. But at some point, you need to be able to justify paying $300 for a gadget. This all goes to show that Amazon is one of the few companies that understand the power of being connected all the time. And when you consider what some of these other companies plan to charge for their readers, you’ve got to admit that Amazon has been fairly conservative with its pricing point for Kindle 2.0.
Samsung Papyrus is certainly an attractive gadget and will come in multiple colors. But it’s certainly no Kindle killer. Not yet anyway.
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0 comments
#1CameronMarch 26, 2009, 8:06 am
Amazon really does have the iPod of books right now.
Sure there are plenty of other MP3 players you can buy. Hell there are even some pretty cool ones, but nothing can replace the iPod.
Same thing with the Kindle. All these ebook readers are coming out, but nothing has yet come close to being better than a kindle
#2John CadeMarch 26, 2009, 9:25 am
How about Sony + Google Whopper. If Sony adds wireless, it could be a decent competitor.
#3CameronMarch 26, 2009, 4:40 pm
I honestly do not think the Sony/Google book deal is going to amount to much.
Most all of the popular public domain text’s are already available for the Kindle.
The rest is rather obscure and probably only of value to a small number of people.
Makes one hell of a press release, but overall the deal doesn’t amount to a lot for the end user.
#4PanahMarch 26, 2009, 5:04 pm
While I agree with that, I still think Google is a dangerous partner not to have. They are scary good and have world domination plans. Who knows what they are up to.
#5cameronMarch 29, 2009, 9:05 pm
I would not be all that worried about Google.
The business models that Amazon and Google are pursuing a very different and can probably coexist.
They both have the same goal of making every book ever published available online. Hopefully both of these strong companies will help push publishers into the 21st century.
#6BrianMarch 31, 2009, 11:24 pm
I’m just not seeing the attraction of this device. Not for $300. The Papyrus reminds me of the Palm Pilot back in the 1990′s. I did read ebooks on those, but I expect something a little bit better today — especially for the cost.
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