So as per my previous blog entries show, I'm a major personal fan of Amazon's Kindle eBook reader. It's really improved my reading experience and consumption.
So why do I think Kindle is important to IT companies? Well to put it simply it's a great cross-platform framework for information delivery and consumption! I can seamlessly access & synchronise the same eBook content on an iPhone, Android phone, PC, iPad & Kindle ereader.
Yes Kindle can read & display existing Adobe PDF files, but they are nowhere near as usable & visually readable as eBook format documents.
There are also some other interesting advantages :-
* built in secure channels for charged, or less public, content
* ability to automatically push & receive updated document versions
* the annotations & highlighting capabilities allow peers to share 'user feedback & content' associated with the document & topic
So Gartner, when will you deliver your reports & papers via Kindle's secure subscription channels?
So EMC, HP, HDS, IBM, Cisco, Netapp, Oracle et al - when are you going to deliver your whitepapers, product manuals and documentation in eBook format?
From a marketing aspect, just bundle a kindle (or iPad running kindle) with your enterprise data-centre products - stock it full if your documentation and watch your happy customers...
I don't like the Kindle or any of its supporting software. I prefer ePub files that can be read on even more platforms than the current Kindle software.
ReplyDeleteI would rather see ePub formats of documentation that would even better handle the open nature of the distribution and not the Kindle format. PDF isn't a bad second step from their. But very opposed to Kindle format because of the restriction it places on publishers and customers alike.
I've tried reading PDFs on my Kindle and it can be a painful experience. I'd very much like to see product documentation that was readable on a Kindle particularly as I also make use of the Kindle reader across my phone and a netbook. Bring back reference cards - ideal for a phone form factor.
ReplyDeleteBuy a Kindle DX from the US and get on with your life.
ReplyDelete