Blog #3- Creative and Innovative, The Kindle

In The New Yorker I stumbled upon an article, titled “A New Page”, by Nicholas Baker. He wrote about the importance of the Amazon Kindle and how “it was an alpenhorn blast of post-Gutenbergian revalorization.” These are very strong words about a paperless reading device that allows a person to download newspapers, magazines, and books. PCWorld.com claims that the Kindle “takes the e-book to the next level” which is why it categorizes it in their Top 50 Most Innovative Products of 2008 list. Jacob Weisberg, the editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, said that Amazon “has built a machine that marks a cultural revolution…Printed books, the most important artifacts of human civilization, are going to join newspapers and magazines on the road to obsolescence.” Based on these quotes, you can see that there is no messing around with Amazon’s newest addition.

Now whether you like the Kindle or value holding a printed book in your hand just to feel the triumph of progression through turning the pages, you have to admit that the Kindle is pretty cutting-edge. To be able to download your morning newspaper and not have to worry about who you’re hitting on the subway or bus, while you open the pages is just mind boggling. The convenience of having your entire summer reading list for next year’s English class in one handheld device seems almost unimaginable. Amazon not only created a product that fit within their current line of products (i.e. book selling), but also created a device that makes their customers lives easier. The Kindle is giving aspiring authors the chance to have their book published without having publishing companies spend thousands of dollars printing the papers. If only nine people want to buy the novel, then nine people can download it to their Kindle. The book doesn’t need to be printed. It is only a click away for their readers. As a college student, I love the idea that I can have all of my text books with me without having to physically lug them place to place. The Kindle sure would have made my freshman year a lot easier!

Amazon is a company all about innovation. In the article, “How Technology is Changing the Face of Innovation” from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is said to be a firm believer in trying new things. Greg Linden, an innovator at Amazon, is quoted saying, “Genius is born from a thousand failures… in each failed test you learn something that helps you find something that will work.” He continues to mention that experimentation is the most important thing a company can do to be innovative and creative. What Mr. Linden is saying is that by constantly trying new ideas, coming from all employees across the board, you are consistently learning and breeding new ideas for experimentation in the future. The article continues to describe how companies are entering new environments where control is given up and employees are allowed to try and test their ideas quickly due to the Internet and company websites. The article also states that with this increase in experimentation, education and training is needed to develop employees’ “skills to rapidly design provocative experiments.”

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and C.E.O., said that the Kindle is, “the most important thing [they’ve] even done. It’s so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it.” But as stated in the “How Technology Is Changing the Face of Innovation,” it’s the risk and experiments you take that lead to great ground-breaking, innovative products.