Kindle Printing

Regarding the Amazon (NASDAQ AMZN) Kindle e-book reader announced on November 19th, Im working on a column for my December Observations that will include historical perspective, and potential impact on the printer industry. So in researching that piece, Ive come across a couple of relevant items worth highlighting here, ahead of my December column which will appear around the middle of next month.

Andrew Sullivan, in "Reviewing the Kindle" at The Daily Dish at TheAtlantic.com forwards an idea, as a fan of small, fast, compact printers:

What Id buy is a small printing device that can download any book and print it out in a classic simple paperback style: a consumer-friendly print-on-demand.

Rob Enderle, in "The Rise of ePaper: Could Kindle Represent the End of Printing?" on his blog at ITBusinessEdge.com, beyond some good commentary on the Kindle itself, offers the idea that this could be the beginning of the end for printing. He asserts interesting arguments about our (printer) industry that speak to its mature status, seeing low (single digit) sales growth but high profits at least for the dominant player, HP (NYSE: HPQ).

In short, this has the feel of a business that has peaked and is in the process of being replaced by something else.

Related Post: