Despite my best efforts to stay away from the dedicated e-reader market, Amazon has piqued my interest with the international edition of the Kindle 2. Back when it was a US exclusive, I could turn up my nose and say “I wasn’t interested anyways”. But now that it’s just a few mouse clicks (and a few hundred dollars) away, now I have to come to terms with the fact that I may actually want one. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that the Kindle is undeniably interesting, the problem is that for everything it does well, there are a few fatal flaws that are keeping my credit card firmly in my pocket for now.

The Good

Amazon does some things exceptionally well with the Kindle that make it a very enticing prospect for a fence-sitter like me. Building on these strengths makes a lot of sense to continue to grow their market.

Design

Amazon nailed the industrial design of the Kindle 2. Thin and sleek, light and easy to hold. These are key issues for an e-reader as they are currently targeted at replacing the reading experience of books which tend to have many, if not all of the above characteristics.

Easy to use

By using e-ink technology in the Kindle, Amazon makes e-reading easy on the eyes. This is a key issue in the age of constant eye-strain caused by LCD screens. They also make buying e-books drop-dead simple by having the Amazon store available wirelessly at all times.

Books are cheap

By making many e-books (including most bestsellers) available for much less than the physical books, Amazon creates a great value proposition for buying the kindle. The kinds of people who would buy a kindle are likely heavy readers ($400 price tag for 1 book a year? Please!). Over time, assuming they keep the kindle for long enough, buyers can save more than the cost of the kindle in book savings alone.

The Bad

Everything doesn’t come up roses though; there are a few key problems that make the Kindle not quite ready for prime-time in my eyes.

Lock-In

Amazon is the only company that makes books for the Kindle, and books bought for the Kindle don’t work on any other devices. Sure, Apple pulled this off with iTunes for years, but in the end even they agreed that that was the wrong business model. For media like books, music, and movies, being able to use them independent of a specific device is absolutely key. Other e-reader companies seem to agree with this point, and are making hardware that reads from a common, standard format.

Ownership

This particular issue is bigger than Amazon, bigger than e-books, and applies to electronic Media in general. As a rule, companies make the point that electronic media is licensed and not owned. In practice this means that I can’t (legally) lend or sell my e-books the way I can with my physical ones. Sure the individual books are cheaper, but if everyone in my family has to buy a copy to read them, where are the savings? I can share a book I buy from the store with anyone I want, and even sell it later. How will e-books make up for that lost right?

Conclusion

Overall the Amazon Kindle is probably the best e-reader currently on the market, and is a really compelling e-reading device, but being locked to Amazon for all eternity, and being restricted by confusing licenses and artificial restrictions means that for now I’ll stick with good ‘ol ink and dead trees.

It’s been all over the news this morning that the Amazon Kindle is finally being sold in Canada (and internationally) through the Amazon.com website. Book and gadget lovers rejoice as they will be able to covet this popular device. The heavenly bliss of carrying over 200 book titles on the go, and downloading books on demand with 3G mobile access, is what the market has been demanding.

Now, I’m all for the Kindle coming to town. It provides more competition in a market with growing demand and limited options. The Sony eReader has been available in Canada for some time now, but it never had the emotion connection that people have experience with the Kindle. Chapters’ introduction of their ShortCovers software (which allows you to buy and read books from your Blackberry, iPhone, or personal computer) is another option. Although ShortCovers is confined to small screens, or devices too heavy to really be conducive to pleasurable reading.

So what’s the big deal about Kindle coming to Canada? Well, it does provide more competition in the Canadian eBook market, but really it’s just Amazon stab at capturing the eBook market share before the big boys come out to play. Rumors are flying around the web of an Apple Tablet (think of it as a iPhone only bigger, at least based on speculation). Also, Microsoft’s Courier (their journal like mobile device) has been leaked and circulating the interwebs. These potential versatile devices could easily bring Apple and Microsoft into the eBook market out the gates, with the lack of eInk technology as their only downfall (well at least to avid readers). We already carry our cellphones, iPods, and laptops on the go, and Apple’s and Microsoft’s potential devices could lighten our load.

I think the Kindle is a great product, and in the meantime, I’ll probably pick one up. But, what I’m really waiting for, is a full colour portable device like the Microsoft Courier and Apple Tablet that could provide me with more than just a portable book library. It could provide me with a music/video/book library (not to mention electronic journal and mobile browser) on the go.