New electronic devices are cutting edge, the play things of the young and hip.As it turns out, this is not at all the case with the Kindle reading device.
Don't be fooled by the advertisements that feature young intellectual types with Kindles in hand, riding the subway to exciting jobs in New York City. The Kindle is for old people.
Amazon did a survey and found that the vast majority of Kindle owners are fifty years of age and older. Hardly the young, hip set.
In part, it could be a cost issue. Older people have more disposable income than the young hipsters who have college loans to repay. Kindles do not come cheap.
More books are purchased by the middle-aged and the senior citizen, who have more time to read and who still find reading to be a pleasurable pursuit. The kids are too busy playing video games to sit down with a book, even one that is presented on an electronic box.
What may put the nail in the coffin for Kindle use among younger people is the fact that the typical Kindle user is suffering from age-related physical decline. People with arthritis can use the reader because they don't need to turn a page with their crippled hands. No one needs reading glasses with a Kindle because the print can be enlarged, so those suffering with weakening eyesight love their Kindles.
Once the younger generation gets wind of the data, they'll avoid being seen with a Kindle. How could such a device be cool if it's a toy for one's grandmother?
For the publishing world, one positive bit of data emerged from the survey and it's good news indeed. People who are unable to read hard copy are buying Kindle-ready books, which puts to rest a fear that those buying for Kindle were thus not buying a physical book. With Kindle, according to Amazon, the market has grown, rather than collapsed in on itself.
So if it's the senior set that's taken to the Kindle, are the kids doing all their reading on their iPhones?
6 comments:
Are you saying I'm long in the tooth? ***frowns***
Get rid of the Kindle before everyone notices that you've got the font blown up to half-blind size.
Use the Kindle app on the iPhone. Much cooler altogether.
Moi? Font blown up to three letters per page? MOI?
No worries, though. I only use it in the dark privacy of my room.
No IPhone. I draw the line at typing with my thumbs. :)
Ah yes, the opposable thumb. We'd be apes without them.
I can't hope to afford an iPhone anyway, let alone a Kindle. Maybe if I gave up drinking....no, that's asking too much.
I can confirm: I am an old-ish fan of the Kindle, and I have noticed that my proselytizing only took with the blind and crippled. The upside was that my son eagerly passed on to me the Kindle2 he got from his grandparents. Sure, the Kindle says old age has arrived, but it does sweeten the ordeal.
There's the iPad of course. Does the same thing, but with an Apple logo so the elderly can appear cutting edge and technologically forward. As long as no one notices the extra large print, and then all bets are off.
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