I am totally blown away. Almost speechless.  Are they trying to take over the world through retail??

When Microsoft came out with the Zune, I expected them to do with it what Amazon is doing with the Kindle.  Give it away and make all your money off the content.  It’s an interesting model for hardware sales, but in a content driven world, it certainly makes a lot of sense. 

What really stood out to me however, was the stats about American voters.  A rather sad commentary on America I think.  We’re upset because the economy is messed up, but we’re more interested in buying stuff online than voting for a president.  But then I suppose spending money online is a good way to boost the economy too.  It also made me wonder how long it will be until we can securely vote online.  I know part of the shortage of voters is the difficulty in registration and getting to the polling locations.  I expect when online voting finally surfaces, we will see a significant increase in voting.  Perhaps Bezos can put some of his profits into helping the gov’t come up with a secure online voting app.

My wife looks for everything at Amazon first. As a Kindle owner and reader, I recognize the potential Amazon offers to authors. These stats simply reiterate that potential in a concrete and powerful way.

I appreciate an entreprenurial mind that can turn a vision into a success!

“Astonishing” is the perfect word for this giant! My first thought? These statistics make it even more morally wrong and financially foolish that none of the Kindle machines are accessible to those who cannot read print or find it difficult. This is a good-sized population segment now and it becomes a continually bigger crowd as seniors become a larger percentage of the population.  Sure the digital books themselves can “talk” (most book publishers permit this and profit by it), but blind readers and others who use screen access software CANNOT access the controls on the machine. The know-how to make computer devices and digital devices work when you can’t see the controls is already out there–as witness, the iPad, iPhone, and other i-products work for blind persons.

May I say, Humph!

Fill a niche and become a wall.

I’ve been using Amazon more and more. I never realized how big it was, but now I always check it before I buy something somewhere else.

I recently needed a new computer part and something was recommended to me from a discount computer supplies store–I checked Amazon and saved about $10.

As a purchaser outside of the USA I have found Amazon to have excellent customer service.  I have bought books and received them very quickly.  Unfortunately Barnes and Noble hasn’t learned anyhting from them.  I received a Nook as a gift only to find out that you cannot purchase Nookbooks outside of the USA whereas you can purchase kindle books anywhere!