Steve Jobs: Kindle is flawed because people don’t read

Steve Jobs says the whole concept of Amazon’s Kindle is fatally flawed because people don’t read anymore:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

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I ride the bus with several (myself included) non-People every day. I read about as much as I watch TV; that’s probably abnormal.

The fact that sites like Goodreads and LibraryThing get traffic seems to contradict this as well.

That said, it’s going to take a lot to get me to enjoy a product like the Kindle. I like the tactile feel of books, their musty smell, and the volume of space that they fill. There’s something cool about looking over shelves containing hundreds of books. I guess I’m a bit of a bibliophile.

I am a huge reader, the Kindle is awesome. The wireless experience is very very good.

Jobs just looks like a self-promoting dork with statements like this. Book stores are certainly thriving more than music stores. I suspect the human race will continue to make use of the written word.

[…] How about some documentation? I know Steve thinks books are dead, but in the old days Apple documentation was really first rate. Remember that old MacWrite manual? Apple, I know you are in the electronics business, but reading help files on a laptop screen that covers up the application I am trying to learn is a bit of a pain. […]

[…] How most whatever documentation? I undergo Steve thinks books are dead, but in the older life Apple substantiation was rattling prototypal rate. Remember that older MacWrite manual? Apple, I undergo you are in the electronics business, but datum support files on a laptop concealment that covers up the covering I am disagreeable to wager is a taste of a pain. […]

It is true that the percentage of people who read manuals are not very high. This is why the support business is striving. Geek Squad is a legit business.

Steve Jobs is basically correct. Also, nobody needs a book load of information anymore… Info is flying to fast online, for anyone to need 350 pages of information on one topic. By the time the reader hits chapter 4, the information in chap 1-3 is out-of-date, and updated in essay/article form, online.

The latest “kindle is successful” hype is probably PR misinfo from the massive investors that invested in kindle - like Oprah. The kindle is WAY to expensive and lacked ridiculously simple must-have features such as backlighting. $350 for a product without backlighting?? Can you say sony e-reader??

[…] The rise of the netbook is coupled with a rise in the popularity of ebook readers (another device that Steve Jobs was famously dismissive of). […]

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Steve Jobs: Kindle is flawed because people don’t read

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