On Friday, Oprah emphatically endorsed Amazon’s Kindle on her show. It’s a pretty interesting move since Oprah’s audience isn’t full of typical technology early adopters. While her endorsement is unlikely to make the Kindle a mainstream hit overnight, it may be a sign that women are a critical demographic for the device.
As is, the Kindle costs $359, which is an enormous barrier for most consumers. For men the Kindle also represents an additional item to carry, one that doesn’t fit nicely into a pocket. So while the Kindle certainly offers a better reading experience than the iPhone’s Stanza app, the monetary and physical costs represent significant barriers to adoption amongst men.
For women, however, the Kindle’s cost/benefit ratio is far more favorable. To begin with, a purse is a much more convenient place to carry a Kindle than a pocket or even a briefcase. My girlfriend usually carries everything from a book and an iPhone, to a pair of shoes, in her purse. Fitting a 10 ounce Kindle in wouldn’t take much extra effort.
Furthermore while (an increasing) many women have smart phones, far fewer of them have them then men. This alone means that women as a demographic are more likely to compare the Kindle to the alternative of paperback books, rather than their Stanza enabled smart phone.
Still, women aren’t immune to the Kindle’s high price (which is $50 off under Oprah’s special). However, if Amazon can bring the price of the Kindle down over time, women may be key to driving long-term adoption.
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