7 Reasons Why TechCrunch’s New Tablet Can Crush The Kindle
As you can see in my interviews, I love reading books. When I saw TechCrunch’s upcoming tablet computer, the CrunchPad, I instantly knew that it could be the mainstream reading device that the Kindle still hasn’t become.
Here’s why I think it could kill the Kindle.
#1 The CrunchPad makes piracy easy
TechCrunch itself said that piracy might be the Kindle’s savor. The CrunchPad makes reading pirated books even easier than the Kindle because you don’t have to figure out how to get all the illegal books on your device. You just use the built-in Web browser to read them.
#2 Nobody really needs E-Ink
Amazon brags that the Kindle’s E-Ink technology is so easy on the eyes that it finally makes it easy to read for hours on a device. But the truth is that must of us spend hours every day reading on plain old computer screens and we do just fine. The CrunchPad’s screen is good enough.
#3 People don’t read books
The typical person starts 5 books a year (not finishes, but starts) and one in four people read zero books. (See the data for yourself.) Are they really going to spend money on an expensive device like the Kindle just so they could read 5 books?
#4 People like porn
Porn helped the VCR take off, it helped grow the web, and it even helped get people excited about about mobile web. But the Kindle can’t handle porn and the CrunchPad can.
#5 Single-use devices are a waste
Remember when your phone only made calls? Could you go back to that? How about when your computer could only do work? Or when an XBox could only play games? The Kindle can only do one thing well, but the CrunchPad can give you access to just about anything on the web.
#6 People like colors
When USA Today launched with its color print, the other newspapers laughed at it and called it a McPaper. But today, even the New York Times and Wall Street Journal accepted that color helps stories come alive. As you can see from the picture I included here, the CrunchPad makes the Times look vibrant. Would it look as good with the Kindle’s black text on a gray background?
#7 Real creativity comes from the community
I switched to Firefox because it let me add plugins that browser creators never imagined I’d want. Nobody can predict what users want, but if a product allows addons, the developer community can experiment till they find the hits. The Kindle is a closed device that you can’t hack, but the CrunchPad is just begging for experimentation.
Bonus Reason: DRM sucks
I own a bunch of books that bought in the ereader format — with the ereader DRM. Do I have to re-buy them so I can read them on a Kindle? If I rebuy them with the Kindle DRM, will I have to rebuy them when the next device comes out? DRM sucks because it means customers don’t own the conent they buy. The Kindle is all about DRM. The CrunchPad, because it has a web browser, is open.