Why Kindle if You Don't Have to?

Tobin Wolverton is President and founder of thatworks, a business interiors and office furniture provider. He's also a member of Chief Executive Boards International. During a recent meeting, he mentioned that he was thrilled with a Christmas gift he'd received -- an Amazon Kindle.

I asked Tobin to write up his experience with his Kindle, and here's what he has to say about it:

"As a slightly late adopter of technology, I usually wait a year or so to purchase the newest gadget. But typically after purchasing the newest gadget I always wish I had made my life easier by being an early adopter!
"I love my MP3 player for music and my Blackberry for keeping in touch quickly. But my newest favorite device is the Amazon Kindle – a revolutionary device for books!

"While similar in application to an MP3 player for the ability to download and listen to music, the Amazon Kindle allows you to download and read a variety of books, moving seamless from one to the other, with one device. No longer do you need a stack of books on your nightstand or in your briefcase. The Kindle allows you to access to many hundreds of books on just the internal memory – and provides an SD memory slot for even more books if needed. And Amazon allows you to access to many newspapers, magazines and books (literally hundreds of thousands) that can downloaded wirelessly at your command – wherever the Sprint wireless network is available.

"As a business owner I always like the bottom line and I am sure you are now wondering what the costs are for this device. Once you purchase the Amazon Kindle for about $350 the wireless is free and the books/magazines and papers are less expensive than you can purchase them locally. I sat on the sofa a few Sundays ago and downloaded the New York Times Sunday edition for $.75! Books are typically $9.99 or less. The savings of your reading material will more than offset the cost of the Kindle over time. [Ed. note -- Amazon has just released the next generation -- the Kindle 2]

"I am finding I am reading more than ever, especially business books and historical fiction, because the materials are more easily accessible. If you are wondering how you can keep it all together while gaining access to new ideas consider the Amazon Kindle as the latest tool of technology to help you."

It's been amazing to me that in the two weeks since that meeting, I've heard two other people bring up Kindle in casual conversation. Based on this microscopic market sample, it's my prediction that this product is reaching a "tipping point" -- a point where it begins to spread virally, by means of a "word-of-mouth epidemic" : http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/bookreviews/bookreview039.pdf

So, if you, like most Chief Executive Boards International members, are looking for ideas to improve either your business or your life, you'll find them in books. And you may find those books for a fraction of the time and effort of buying and waiting on them, on your Kindle.

If you've also discovered Kindle, please click "Comments" below and let us know how you like it.

Other CEBI Blog Articles...

To forward this to a friend, Click Here

Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com