Sitting on the periphery of book-reading culture looking like some kind of ominous smoke and mirrors parlour trick, the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader has not yet won the widespread support of those keen to hold on to the printed page. However, that stubborn reticence could be about to change.
Oprah lends weight to Amazon Kindle. Image: Robert Nelson/Flickr.
More pointedly, Oprah Winfrey, talk-show figurehead and one of the media world’s most powerful women, has officially endorsed the Amazon Kindle on her hugely popular show, which could well catapult electronic reading into mainstream consciousness.
Time magazine quotes Publishers Weekly business editor Jim Milliot as saying that endorsement exposure through the Oprah book club can see individual titles benefiting from “a minimum of 500,000 additional sales.” And that’s a potential audience boost not to be taken lightly.
Clearly viewed in the publishing world as having a Midas touch, an on-air endorsement of the lightweight and portable Kindle device by Oprah could well turn the ebook reader into an overnight success.
And that endorsement was certainly forthcoming when an enthusiastic and animated Oprah recently revealed on her show that she’d received a Kindle electronic book reader during the summer and it had changed her life.
“When I get something this great I have to share it with everybody,” Winfrey gushed. “I’m really not a gadget person at all, but I have fallen in love with this thing.”
Not alone in her excitement, Oprah was joined on stage by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who then helped walk audience members through the Kindle’s abilities after everyone in the studio was gifted with a free unit.
With Oprah openly making a play to watching technophobes regarding the Kindle’s user-friendly functionality, it was down to Bezos to reinforce that enjoyment is not dependent on computer knowledge and that the Kindle quickly downloads its publications by creating a wireless connection to the Internet.
While obviously enthralled by the technology’s portability, connectivity and onboard storage for hundreds of books, Oprah was also keen to point out that she has absolutely “no stake” in the Kindle, and is merely an amazed consumer looking to share her lucky discovery with others.
And, in so doing, Amazon is building on the endorsement by hacking a solid $50 USD from the Kindle price for every Oprah viewer that enters the promotional code OPRAHWINFREY during the on-site checkout process. The offer is valid through to November 01 of this year.
I.P. FreelyOct 27th, 2008 - 16:44:48
Or..you could save $160 and buy an 8 GB Ipod Touch, (which is an excellant e-book reader). Then you could do everything a Kindle does plus: surf the web, watch videos on You-tube, listen to music, down-load movies to watch, check the stock market or down-load up to 3000 other applications.
P.S. I posted this from my Ipod Touch.
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