The people that should take note and the thing to be noted

Two and a half weeks since product launch, it is time that the American Booksellers Association take note of The Kindle.

While everyone else under the sun has had something to say about the Kindle, I have heard little more than silence from booksellers. This goes for non-Amazon online retailers, as well as big box bricks-and-mortar stores, but I'm mostly interested in hearing from my beloved indies. Um, indie bookstores, do you see what Amazon is doing? Do you understand that this has nothing to do with making a device for people to read with, but rather putting a tiny tiny portable bookstore with hundreds of thousands of books in the bags and purses of every reader out there? Do you hear me? A personal bookstore—for everyone.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers:

"It’s important to state at the outset that the Kindle is not so much an eBook as it is a portable bookstore." [link]

David Pogue, technology columnist at The New York Times:

"The [Kindle book] catalog includes 90,000 books so far... but Amazon says that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Its goal is to have every printed book on earth available for instant download. It’s a giddy thought. Someone mentions a great book — any book. You whip out the Kindle, download the book in 60 seconds and start reading it." [link]

And you can argue the Kindle's shortcomings all you want. True, the device itself seems to be kind of an industrial design nightmare, and yes, the built in copyright protections are just as big a scare, but it may not take much to tip the balance to Amazon's favor on this one. In fact, you may note that at the time of this post, the Kindle is out of stock at Amazon. And regardless of whether that's a true measure of success or a mere marketing gimmick or ordering snafu... every book ever published, in my bag, all the time? Damn.