“Kindle” or “eBook”? Why was a Dem think-tanker so in love with a brand name in his policy paper?
Earlier I noted the striking similarities between my TeleRead proposal from the 1990s and a Kinclle-centric variant from one Thomas Z. Freedman, who, in a detailed policy paper, didn’t even include a footnote of acknowledgment.
Mr. Freedman, to my knowledge, has yet to respond to my e-mailed request for a footnote. Talk about an arrogant “Inside the Beltway” mentality! This is why so why I’m so often ashamed to be a lifelong Democrat. Did you really think Obama would completely change the rules of the D.C. power game?
NYT readers tear Freedman apart
Meanwhile—in the comments section accompanying the New York Times summary of his proposal, made in Mr. Freedman’s role as a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council—many Times readers have done a great job of spotting the paper’s defects. Like me, they’re concerned it’s too Kindle-focused. Is this another D.C. giveaway plan for special interests? Is a hidden agenda tainting a call for badly needed solution to America’s textbook crisis?
The more I study the Freedman paper and talk to others about it, the more I wonder. The paper is at least several thousand words long. The word “eBook” appears once in the singular and once in the plural, while “Kindle” or ”Kindles” appears more than a dozen times. One Times reader was “horrified at the use of the Kindle trademark in this otherwise sensible proposal. The proposal itself does not mandate the Kindle specifically, so why give Amazon free advertising in the title?” Exactly!
A corporate consultant—not just a think-tanker
Mr. Freedman does corporate consulting in addition to his DLC work, with Cisco among his past or present clients, as indicated on his Web site. If he is not more open to non-Kindle-style solution such as multiuse tablets, then I don’t think it will be out of line to wonder if he is carrying water for existing clients or hoping for business from Amazon. Or is is he helping out friends with Amazon connections? I don’t see one reference to “Sony” or “Plastic Logic”; is Amazon the only “eBook” vendor out there?
July 16th, 2009 at 5:59 am
I’m sure it’s possible he’s pandering directly to Amazon, or to someone with Amazon interests (that is how Washington works, after all).
On the other hand, he may simply be using it out of name recognition… it may be the only reader he’s actually aware of, or he assumes it’s the only reader his readers are actually aware of. After all, is the Cybook on Oprah? Has any other e-book reader gotten the press that the Kindle seems to get every day (and which we are directly contributing to)?
When Washingtonians write, they drop names, they use pop phrases, “in” references and even fads, and generally talk down to the people they are trying to communicate with. What better way than to just pick a pop reference like the Kindle and squeeze it to death?
July 16th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Hi, Steve. I’ve indeed considered the possibility and haven’t ruled it out, but if that’s the case, it would suggest rather shallow thinking even by Washington standards. I’d hope the DLC could do better than that. Maybe a Kindle in the title? But in the text so many times, in place of “eBook” or “e-book”? Thanks. David (hoping that your recovery is still coming along ok)
July 16th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I doubt this a case of pandering. Using a brand name generically is not a new phenomenon . At one time, the older folks should remember, you’d xerox copies, e.g., “I’m going to xerox a copy of my term paper for a professor and keep the original.” Now Xerox was a major manufacturer of photocopiers way back when and everyone used the brand name as a verb or noun.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Given the Kindle’s fragility, it is an odd choice for a school book replacement. This book and its agenda reminds me of something that happened in the late 1990s. An admiral, just before he retired, issued an order to weed out all desktops in the Pacific fleet that weren’t running Windows.
After he retired he went to work for Microsoft.
Perhaps ‘work for’ doesn’t fit Freedman’s lifestyle as a consultant. But there are consulting fees….
And I doubt Obama intends to change the Beltway culture. He spent the last 20 years in one of the most politically corrupt cities in the country. You couldn’t have found a more ‘target-rich’ environment for a genuine reformer. During that time he never upset in the slightest a single crooked politician or businessman, much less got one tossed in prison. Expecting him to bring the sort of change you want makes as much sense as expecting to find a virgin running a house of prostitution.
Look at the polls. More than a few Obama voters and “lifelong Democrats” are starting to regret what they did.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
David, my rule of thumb is, “Never underestimate the shallowness of thinking in Washington.” In the same way Reagan pushed a strategic defense initiative by calling it “Star Wars,” Freedman is tossing around pop-reference “Kindle” to save the children. My ankles aren’t even getting wet in this pool…
July 16th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Like it or not, Kindle is to ereader as iPod is to mp3 player. At least to the general public.
That may well change as time and more devices come along. Or it may not, who knows, who cares.
I doubt that there is any sort of quid pro quo involved but as there seems to be a whole cult devoted to taking any opportunity to think the worst of Amazon I’m not surprised by this kerfuffle.
As to the notion that Kindles are fragile – I bought a K1 on launch day, carried it with me every day until I got a K2 which I carried every day until I got a DX. They are all fine, they are all still in use, they all have the “official” Amazon cover, – no broken screens, no broken buttons, no broken joystick thingy, no cracked cases, no problems at all (well that’s not quite true – one of the keys on my K1 keyboard is a little wonky and sometimes you have to press it a couple of times to get that letter).
July 17th, 2009 at 12:48 am
A) Because it is a play on Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign slogan of, “A chicken in every pot. A car in every garage.”
B) Because “A Kindle In Every Backpack” is a catchier title than “A Non-Brand Specific Ebook Reading Device (Including, but not limited to, an Amazon Kindle, a Bookeen Cybook, a Sony Reader (PRS-500, PRS-505, or PRS-700), and/or other devices to be manufactured in the future by company or companies not named herein) In or On or in Relatively Close Proximity to a(n) (Optional) Means of Conveyance of Books, Papers, Periodicals, Pens, Pencils, Computers, and Assorted Miscellany (e.g., a backpack, messenger bag, briefcase, or other enclosure)”
July 17th, 2009 at 10:59 am
the other — perhaps not *entirely* relevant — point, is that right now the kindle is the only device on the market that has an integrated dictionary for word-lookups on the fly; device-wide searchability; and underline/annotate capability. these features have been underemphasized in the discussion, but are imperative for the textbook model to fly.
i do own a kindle 2, but do not consider myself to be brand loyal in any way. how about if we think of this as a challenge to competitors to improve on kindle’s functionality? it’s not rocket science. how about ‘all pdf’s can be annotated’? how about giving us the choice between viewing our underlining on re-reads and reading ‘clean copy’? the ability to view a page from each of four resources/documents simultaneously? and the obvious — full-color display and advanced graphics display capability — with the ability to make notes using a stylus or on-board keypad?