I don’t know! I’d have to say their idea is a pretty effective one, although they didn’t really have to recruit anyone (well, me) to purposely show off the Kindle. I carry mine around with me a lot, and everywhere I go people want to know what it is and they want to touch it and play around with it to see what it is like. Usually one or two of those people look like they will seriously considering buying one, once they see that the screen really looks like paper. I am fairly certain that my Kindle has caused more than a few people to go out and buy one! I also rave about it on twitter and facebook… and I wanted one even though I didn’t see one in person. Their online videos are pretty good.
My main concern with my Kindle is that Amazon wins the race, here. Otherwise my investment won’t be one for long. I wonder if Amazon realizes that people would likely be open to extra fees or even slightly higher prices for books, if it meant their device would win in the market place. I would, at least. They have “experimental” internet access right now, and if they found a way to make it a bit faster and the format better, I’d pay a fee ($5-$15) every month to use their wireless network to check my e-mail and stuff from my Kindle. It would be way better than the Ipad, that is for sure. I won’t purposely tell them I’d be willing to pay them more, but if they are savvy, they will find comments like these.
I think they will have to charge for extra internet access (beyond the included whispernet) if they are going to get their method of making money with this to be sustainable. Or maybe not, I am not totally abreast of the financial situation. I did read somewhere that they are running lean with it though, by slashing prices for books and offering internet for free.